HURRICANE IN SOUTH

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29060, 24 November 1959, Page 17

HURRICANE IN SOUTH

Winds Reach 167 m.p.h.

(New Zealand Press Association) INVERCARGILL, November 23. A hurricane blasted Puysegur Point lighthouse for more than six hours today and sent huge seas rushing through Foveaux Strait. At the same time, a 68 mile-an-hour gale raged throughout Southland, bringing down power poles and lines, and stopping work for thousands of farmers and industrial workers.

Communications were cut over wide areas and roads blocked by minor flooding and fallen trees. Three fishing vessels from Half Moon Bay managed to make shelter in the face of the oncoming hurricane yesterday, which was forecast as a gale. A large boathouse, a coal hut, and the building housing the radio transmitter were destroyed at the Puysegur Point lighthouse, which is isolated on the Fiordland coast apart from radio communication with Invercargill. It is believed that the lighthouse is operating an emergency transmitting set.

It is not known whether anyone was injured at the lighthouse during the hurricane. The hurricane started to blow up early in the afternoon, and by midnight had built up to a peak of 167 miles an hour. At 3 a.m. it died down to 114 miles an hour, but by 6 a.m. had increased to 121 miles an hour. At 9 a.m. the hurricane had passed and the wind was blowing at 30 miles an hour.