FURY OF HAILSTORM

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23539, 17 January 1942, Page 6

FURY OF HAILSTORM

Damage to Otago Farm 100 GLASS PANES SMASHED (P.S.S.) DUNEDIN, January 16. While the thunderstorm which struck Dunedin on Wednesday was of such intensity as to cause alarm in some cases, it was a terrifying experience for residents in a narrow strip of the Otago Peninsula at Cape Saunders. This district was battered by nail showers in which the stones were as big as hen eggs, and serious damage was caused on the only farm which was struck by the full fury of the storm. ' . ~ Two men employed on a farm in tne area, the manager and his son, were in the open when the storm broke, and before they could shelter, they were painfully struck by huge hailstones, and a blow from one of them raised a lump on the head of the younger man. In the house itself 51 diamond-shaped panes of glass in the leadlight windows were smashed, and more than 50 large panes of glass in the farm buildings, and others in the cottages attached to the farm were also broken. _ A crop of oats eight .acres in extent was flattened and destroyed. In the orchard trees were stripped of leaves and fruit, and in a large plantation or seven-year-old shelter trees pine needles and twigs were torn off, and only the trunks and bare branches ot the trees remained. The roof of the homestead was badly pitted by huge hailstones which lifted some of the paint, with the result that a coat of paint only recently applied will have to be renewed. . When the farmer examined his lawn he found it covered with small holes, each of them similar to a mark that would be caused by a golf ball. The vegetable garden was stripped of all its growth. Cabbages were split in half and a half grown rabbit was killed in the act of nibbling one of them. The leaves were battered off potato plants in an area of an acre and a half. The terrified cattle and horses stampeded and broke down fences in several places, and a cow was covexed with bruises. , . „„„ Minor damage was caused to cottages in the district near the farm and the lighthouse at Cape Saunders, which was also in the path of the storm, had several windows broken. A child s wooden handcart, which was left in the open, was struck by lightning and split in half.