Narrow escapes in N.I. gales

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32775, 27 November 1971, Page 1

Narrow escapes in N.I. gales

Gales in the North Island early yesterday brought damage and narrow escapes from death, reports the Press Association.

Westerlies blew over much of the North Island north of Palmerston North, and southerlies blew through Cook Strait.

The Weather Office reported that several areas received an inch of rain during the day, as a deep depression crossed the North Island near Palmerston North. The depression is travelling south-east, and should be out to sea, off the Wairarapa coast, and heading for the Chatham Islands by this morning. The strongest wind reported today was at New Plymouth at 2 p.m., when a south-westerly wind was gusting to 74 knots.

Branch crashes In Auckland, a huge branch crashed near a woman and young child sheltering under a tree at the Museum of Transport and Technology. The executive director of the museum (Mr R. J. Richardson) said that the woman ;ot such a fright that she eft before anyone could check if she was hurt. “It was lucky there were so few people at the museum at the time,” he said. Roof lifted Roofing was blown off a house at 30 Peter Buck Road, Avondale, at 12.30 p.m., and was entangled in power lines. The owner, Mr C. A Micallef, who was called home said: “Thank God no-one was lurt. There are a lot of

mothers with pre-school children who walk through the street” A neighbour, Mrs W. Wilde who saw the roof lift off the house said: “It came off in slow motion, and then there was a tremendous crash and the roof lay tangled in the power lines. There was quite a spectacular display of sparks as the lines hit the ground.”

Two youths from Belmont, . Michael Long and Colin Hillenaar, both aged 15, drifted 1 about an hour in the wind i off Narrow Neck Beach after > their dinghy capsized 100 , yards offshore. The police launch Deodar picked up the boys and towed , the boat inshore. Hillenaar ■ was taken to North Shore ■ Hospital suffering from exi posure. Just before the Deodar reached the boys a former 1 sea cadet, Mr R. Dawe, saw the boys in difficulty and swam out. He stayed with ’ them until the launch arrived. i Pedestrians scattered in Queen Street, Auckland, yesterday morning when three wooden planks fell eight storeys from a building. Noone was hurt, but traffic was diverted for a time. Liverpool Street was also closed when a tree fell and a branch struck two cars, badly damaging one. Train delayed A power failure, caused by a pole falling at Paerata, delayed the Silver Star for 40 minutes in Mercer in the early hours of this morning, because of signal trouble. Several National Airways Corporation flights were delayed or cancelled, because of the weather. Strong winds halted work on the Auckland waterfront several times when it be-| came too dangerous to use the wharf cranes. Four empty 40-fbot containers were blown off the container stack at Fergusson wharf. Moorings snapped The 10,141 ton freighter Tweedbank snapped her mooring lines at an Auckland wharf.

The ship had just completed cargo work and her crew were beginning to pre-

pare her for sea when a gust of more than 60 knots struck the lightly laden ship. Four persons were on the gangway when the wind broke five of her forward mooring lines, causing the ship to swing off Jellicoe wharf bow first The second officer, Mr J. Babcock, who was on the gangway, grabbed Miss A Gilmore and dragged her to the top of the gangway. Two men scrambled up after them. The ship’s anchors were quickly dropped, preverting her swinging round on to Freyberg wharf. Tugs were quickly on the scene.

Two cranes at Jellicoe wharf were damaged by the Tweedbank’s stem, and the ship was also slightly damaged. The Tweedbank’s sailing has been delayed until tomorrow morning, to allow a surveyor to examine her. Crane falls In Taranaki, outbuildings were tom apart, roofing iron disappeared, and trees were uprooted by winds which gusted to 85 miles an hour. At the New Plymouth power project, a 165 ft tower crane toppled from its concrete foundations on to the roof of a stores shed. About 100 men on the construction site fled for cover. Most of the 650 workers had left the area to attend a stop-work meeting when the crane went down.

No-one was in the building when the crane felt It had been vacated half an hour earlier when staff became concerned about the crane's movements. Many outlying areas and some parts of New Plymouth city were without power anf telephone communications for varying periods. Some were expected to remain cut off for the night

Outlook better Most of the gales were expected to moderate by this morning, but the southerly gales in Cook Strait may not decrease until this afternoon.