"A TWISTER."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 16, 20 January 1933, Page 12

"A TWISTER."

DAMAGE TO FARMS. WHIRLWIND IN WAIKATB. FAMILY'S NARROW ESCAPE. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent) HAMILTON, Thursday. Extensive damage on several farms was caused by a whirlwind which passed over Paterangi, a farming district 14 miles south-west of Hamilton, at four o'clock this afternoon. The path of the whirlwind, which appeared to start at Mr. L. Beere's farm, Ngaliinepouri, was approximately 50yds wide, and it travelled for about six miles before breaking near Mr. A. J. Shaw's house at Paterangi. Thunder, heavy rain and a severe hailstorm were experienced at the 6ame time.

Flying Iron. The small farm house of Mr. S. H. Adams suffered the greatest damage. A large shed a few yards from the house was reduced to a pile of twisted sheets of corrugated iron, and a haystack some distance away was blown flat by the wind. The iron roof of the house was loosened and one end was buckled, j leaving the rooms underneath exposed. | The scantlings to which the corrugated iron was nailed were splintered and twisted, and one of them was carried many yards before falling to the ground.

All the smaller articles in the house •were swept up by the wind and distributed over a wide area, hooks, letters, playing cards and clothes being spattered about the road. A heavy iron bath was hurled high into the air and landed on a fence 300 yards away with eueh force that it could not be freed from the fencing wire, which pierced the steel rim of the bath. Sheets of iron from the fowlhouse were torn away and left crumpled in the paddocks of an adjoining farm. "" "End of World."

When the whirlwind reached the Adams' farm, Mrs. Adams was in the house with three of her children, Gordon, aged ten, John, aged eight, and Evelyn, aged five. Mrs. Adams was cooking on the stove, and first became aware of the terrific force of the wind when it struck the front of the house with a noise like thunder. I

"I thought the end of the world had come," said Mrs. Adams, in narrating her experiences. "I expected the walls to burst to pieces at any minute. The roof lifted with a terrific crash and bottles were breaking all around me. I rushed out on 1 to the road with my children. As we left the house, a sheet of iron from a small shed whizzed past, within indies of us. We are all very lucky to be alive." i

A large cowshed on Mr. L. Beere's farm at Xgahinepouri was wrecked, only the concrete base being left. A pigsty also was demolished and several haystacks were ruined. The residence of Mr. J. Hughes, a farmer, at Ngaliinepouri, was damaged and half the roof was torn away. Bending Like Leaves. Mr. A. J. Shaw, who owns a farm about a mile from Mr. Adams' place, said he noticed a peculiar formation of clouds a few minutes before the whirlwind commenced to take shape in the sky. A formation like an inverted icecream cone came out of the cloud above Ngahinepouri, and, spinning rapidly, extended to the ground. It was in the air for about 20 minutes, and during its progress across the country he saw huge trees bend down like leaves and spring up again after the whirlwind had passed.

The whirlwind was observed from Hamilton by Mr. A. Bryce, a wellknown meteorologist, who described it as similar to an American "twister" or tornado.