HURRICANE BLAST

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 210, 5 September 1930, Page 7

HURRICANE BLAST

HUNDREDS PERISH. Homes 'Simply Vanish' on Wings Of 150 M.P.H. Tempest. SCARED LUNATICS AT LARGE. (U6it6d P.A.—Electric Telegraoh^Cotfyright) (KGceived 10 a.m.) SANTO DOMINGO, September 4. The city of Santo Domingo, capital of the Dbminican Republic on tlie island of Haiti, and the most ancient settlement of the -white man in the new world, was virtually destroyed by a hurricane that swept the eastern end of Haiti on Wednesday. It. is believed that 900 were killed or injured. . The hurricane struck Santo Domingo at 2 p.m. and blew for nearly four hours. Houses in the aristocratic quarter were razed to the ground, and the dwellings of the poor simply disappeared on the ■wings of the wind, which it is estimated reached a velocity of 150 miles an hour. •*'

Scenes of horror exceeding anything witnessed in ten years occurred during the hurricane. President"'Rafael Trujillo took charge of the relief work, and the entire army was called out. The communication systems of the Kepublic are totally disrupted. There is news from the rest of the country, but in the neighbourhood of the capital bridges have beep wrecked, roads are impassable, and telegraph lines have simply vanished. . A United Press message reports author ritatively that the early estimates place the dead at 300 andthe injured at almost 1000 in Santo Domingo alone. The damage .is estimated at considerably more than £3,000,000. ' ; The greatest damage appeared in the city itself, the outlying regions reporting less severe consequences. , A mental asylum was demolished and the inmates escaped and ran through the terror-stricken city. . They were later recaptured. The city authorities have pleaded for aeroplanes to be sent bearing food and medical aid for the city s 50,000 population, most of which are htaneless.

Robberies Reported. Many robberies are reported. In tie districts of Nueva Villa, Duarte and ban Carlos great damage has been done ana scarcely a wall is left, standing. The All-America Cable Company, which is re-establishing communication witn Santd Domingo, advised that.the city is 50 per cent destroyed and that medica.l aid and food are urgently needed. The Cuban Government observatory at 2 p.m. announced that the velocity ot the hurricane was still 142 miles per hour. 3 . .'

Two amphibian 'planes bearing Red Cross relief arrived at Santo Domingo andV a third departed; from San Juan, Porto Bico.'at 3 p.m.

, Whe International Cable News fe v this issue is published by 'arrangement Wth the Australian Press Association _ ana $e "Sydney Sun" — ''Melbourne Herald "6We Service, Limited. , r HBy special arrangement Renter's World Service. In addition to other special sources °* information, is used in the compilation Of the overseas iritclligeuce published m f'is issue, and nil rijrhts therein in Australia and New Zealand are reserved. - Such of the cable news on this page as is f> headed has appeared in the "Times ,, and 18 cabled to Australia and New Zealand by special permission. It should be under?»m, od that the opinions are not those of toe ■times" unless expressly stated to be so.]

MAP lowing locality stricken by tKe hurricane.

itself out before it reaches the continent of the United States is not yet indicated. .■..;■;,...■.

The island of Santo Domingo presents a convulsed outline, the coast being marked by long promontories and deep inlets, and the interior by and ranges divided by wide, cultivated plains. Nam6d Hispaniola by Columbus, the western portion of the island, Santo Domingo proper, remained under the SpSh yoke till 1844... It is generally agreed that when the Spaniards sought to take Columbus' ashes home to Spain, they took by mistake those of his son Diego, and the casket tliat reposes in the Cathedral of Santo Dommgo City is. believed to contain the remains ot the old explorer. The capital is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop,' and ot a university founded in 1730. The town is perhaps the most perfect specimen ot a sixteenth century Spanish city m America.

In September, 1925, the worst storm in the history of the Caribbean swept the West Indies, spreading, in the course of the next few days to Florida and the south-eastern States as far as JMew York, 'and along the basin or the Mississippi. The island of Porto Rico was practically devastated, the 700,000 inhabitants being faced with actual starvation. San Juan, the capital, with a population of 50,000, was razed to the ground. Seventy per. cent of its houses were destroyed by the hurricane, which exceeded 120 miles an hour, and by 40ft tidal - waves that swept the lower portions of the town. Seventyseven towns in , the island suffered irreparable damage. . .

1.. Florida the force of the hurricane surpassed the memorable disaster of 1926. For two days a gale of 125 miles an hour wreaked damage amounting" to millions of pounds. The official figures stated that the death roll was in the neighbourhood of 1500, but over 1000 were found to be missing in addition to known casualties. Subsequent epidemics of typhoid,' malaria and influenza were checked onb r by the prompt action of the United States Government, the President superintending the relief work. Thousands of dollars' worth of serum was seiit to the stricken area. Final figures placed the total death roll due to the tornado at over 3000 and the damage at £20,000,000..