DELUGE OF ICE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume L, Issue 7890, 5 January 1922, Page 4

DELUGE OF ICE

LIVESTOCK KILLED BY HAIL Leaving devastation in its wake, an unprecedented hailstorm passed over the 1 north-western district of New South Wales on December 14. So terrific was its force that trees were split like matchwood.' At in the Gunnedah district, the storm reached the full strength of its fury. Nothing of the kind has been seen! or heard of before. The hailstones were described of as falling blocks of ice, and the noise was deafening. It was likened unto blue metal being showered on the house tops from a great height. Fowls, rabbits, birds and animals of all kind lay about dead in hundreds. A farmer’s wife had more than a hundred turkeys, valued at .£1 per head, ready for y the Christmas market. Of this number only three remain alive. Numbers of pigs were amongst the daiu

Residents who had the misfortune not to be under cover were badly bruised by the falling hail. Stock were almost driven mad, and in their frantic efforts to escape the animals raced into wire fences, in many cases with disastrous results. The estimated loss in this area alone is estimated at over .£IO,OOO. Most of the farmers are uninsured. In the Baau Baa district the farm ors have lost practically everything. Boggabri fared even worse. Here Bail was packed up on the veran*aha in places a foot high. The ( rmimercia! Hotel was unroofed. ie selector had 300 acres of wheat.

’ a readv lor stripping with prospects! of a nine-bag yield. He will not harvest a bag. Many others suffered similarity.