Houses Flooded In Sydney Storm

Press, Volume C, Issue 29681, 27 November 1961, Page 7

Houses Flooded In Sydney Storm

Copt/rtpMJ SYDNEY, November 26. A violent 15-minute thunderstorm, accompanied by the heaviest fall of hail in t^ rteen . years, wrecked and flooded scores of homes m inner western suburbs in Sydney late on Friday night.

Gale-force winds swept the hail and ram through homes filling back yards up to 6ft deep m marble-sized hail, •and some bedrooms to a depth of 2ft of water. In a gavage few minutes just before midnight the rain and hail: W ashed a 12-year-old boy from his bedroom through a hole in the wall into a garden plot; Forced an Italian family to nee their home as the *orce flooding water 4ft deep in their home

forced one wall 2ft out of alignment, and brake away a section 18ft long; Tossed heavy furniture about like corks on' the torrent of water which rushed through homes as stormwater channels failed to contain the tremendous weight of water and hail; Buried three back yards 6ft under a solid block of hail and blocked off the street for 30 yards under 3ft of ice; and Trapped two men in a car in 4ft of rushing water, which descended on them without warning. The Weather Bureau said 96 points of rain fell in the city in a few minutes.