HEAVY DAMAGE BY STORM

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22465, 28 July 1938, Page 5

HEAVY DAMAGE BY STORM

STOCK WASHED AWAY AT ALBANY HUGE TREE UPROOTED BY FLOODS (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) AUCKLAND, July 27. Considerable damage by the storm on Tuesday night was reported by settlers at Albany and Waiwcra. At Albany three valuable cows and a bull were swept away and have not been seen since. Paddocks are covered with silt, and one resident lost 4000 tomato plants. Mr C. H. Colton, who has lived for 56 years in the district, said that it was the worst storm he had experienced at; Waiwcra. Water scoured out the foreshore and left a gap of ll feet between the wharf and the mainland. A creek at the back of the Albany Hotel was choked with debris. It quickly overflowed, and so powerful was the onrush of the water while the flood was at its height, that a 75foot pine tree was uprooted and swept out of sight. Mr N. H. Norton, licensee of the hotel, saw a large stack of hay in one of his paddocks disappear in the water, and when ho went to survey the damage he discovered that one and a half 'miles of fencing had completely disappeared. An additional loss was the stock mentioned previously. He estimated that at one time on the night of the storm the paddock in which the animals had been grazing was covered with 12 feet of water. A bull and some pigs were lost by Mr H. L. Piper, whose property adjoins the main highway north of the hotel. The loser of the tomato plants was Mr G. H. Watson, whose properly abuts the main road also, but on the opposite side. He said that the storm water poured down the hillsides and scoured his land over an extensive area covering the paddocks with silt.,breaking down fences and covering those which withstood the onslaught of the water with debris of all descriptions.