Cyclone batters Aust. towns

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33773, 20 February 1975, Page 16

Cyclone batters Aust. towns

<N Z. P A.Reuter— Coppnptin PERTH. ]) February 19. |( I Cyclone Trixie bat- 1 Itered the Western Australian town of Dampier, t ■tonight, ripping awayjv [sections of roofs of v some buildings. Residents were having anj’ anxious night huddled in; c their homes. ! 7 Police Sergeant Les Bowers i 1 said that in some houses 1 and blocks of flats families were forced to move fromi® room to room and home to 1 ‘ | home as the winds ripped !t I away sections of roofs. [ ' He estimated that 80 people i “ had to move in with neigh-!' bours. pending repair work. ■ ON-OFF CYCLONE Cyclone Trixie played'], [games with the town ofj Onslow today. - For about an hour it let U up and residents thought the; v worst might be over. . s But by early evening the 1 c r

winds were as tierce as tlj»y gusts which the Postmaster (Mr Bob Izard) estimatedat 120 knots, and a steady blofc of about 100 knots. Mr Izard said that the towfa had taken a battering but was coming through it pretn well. Onslow, rated virtutflk’ cycione-proof. is about 1-UJi km north of Perth and almo»t due east of North-West Caot —a promontory almost in efit line of Cyclone Trixie’s lire. Mr Izard and the shift clerk (Mr Doug McCutcheon) said that the strongest .of the houses were vibratai under the big blow. Neither offered an estimate of damage, that little could be through heavy rain which came when Cyclone Trixie got its “second wind’’ in tire late afternoon. A few roofs have been peeled back and one garage is roofless. Trees and fences were hurled about the streets, but no human casualties have been reported. At the airport thj meteorology office is still m busines, although an aifconditioning unit has beefi blown out of a wall and pa ft of the roof is missing. Karratha, Roeboumft Wickham and Point Sampsofc also felt the effects of tlx cyclone, but damage wA slight. Exmouth may be next in line for a battering.