73m.p.h. Gust Of Wind Strongest In 13 Years

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31230, 30 November 1966, Page 1

73m.p.h. Gust Of Wind Strongest In 13 Years

A wind change, accompanied by gusts of up to 73 miles an hour, buffeted Christchurch and Lyttelton at lunch«time yesterday.

The sudden change, from north-west to southerly, had been forecast by the Meteorological Service which warned port, airport authorities, the Post Office and the M.E.D. that violent winds were expected.

The 73 m.p.h. gust of wind at 12.15 p.m. was the highest at the Christchurch Airport since April 11,1953, when one of 75 m.p.h. was recorded. The wind brought a sudden drop in temperature. The Government Life building temperature indicator dropped from 76deg, at noon to 59deg. at 12.19 p.m. The gust blew a heavy “shutter” (wood used for boxing concrete) from high up on the nine-storey Reserve Bank building in Hereford street. About sft by 3ft, the shutter was hurled across the street to land on the bonnet of a late model taxi parked in a metered space on the north side of the street. BONNET BUCKLED The windscreen was smashed and the top of the bonnet buckled. The shutter bounced off and dented the boot of a car parked in front of the taxi.

Both cars were empty. The driver of the Blue Star taxi, cab No. 54, was visibly upset when he returned. He spoke to workmen on the bank building site and discussed

the matter with the driver of the other damaged car who returned a few minutes later. Two old N.A.C. D 3 aircraft, on the picket line at the rear of the United States Navy base, were slightly damaged. The gust snapped a picket rope and slewed one aircraft round into the other. The second aircraft was lifted by the wind and the wing tips of both aircraft tangled. The aircraft, in what is known at the airport as “Rotten Row,” are virtually in mothballs, having been stripped of their engines and most equipment. IN HANGARS At the R.N.Z.A.F. Base, Wigram, most of the aircraft were put in hangars after the gale warning. The only damage reported was a broken window in a married quarters house.

The Canterbury Aero Club also took advantage of the warning to put all aircraft in

hangars and no damage was done.

No serious damage was reported from orchardists. The full force of the wind was not felt in the Heathcote and Horotane valleys. The short, sudden gale caused no damage at Lyttelton. The Union Steam Ship Company’s steamer, Waihemo, was approaching the Cashin Quay breakwater and was forced to delay her berthing. The Waihemo, a 7260-ton, single-screw freighter, on her last voyage, anchored in Camp Bay until the wind dropped. She came alongside Cashin Quay at 2.55 p.m. Labour, which had been ordered to discharge her Pacific lumber cargo, had been waiting since 1 p.m. The 9ft high main showcase outside the Tivoli Theatre in the Square was shattered, and a concrete sign, toppled by the wind, fell on a car parked in Princess street, Addington.