Clean-up job begins for tornado-hit homeowners

Press, 21 January 1983, Page 1

Clean-up job begins for tornado-hit homeowners

Tornado-stricken Halswell families started the long job of repairing battered homes and cleaning up properties yesterday as they recovered from the shock of Wednesday’s sudden storm.

An Earthquake and War Damage Commission tent will open today in hard-hit Kinrara Place, a new subdivision.

Early estimates put property damage about $500,000, with damage costing thousands of dollars done to crops south of Christchurch. Daylight confirmed fears of homeowners who had fled their wind-torn homes soon after the storm hit about 8 p.m.

About 400 claims had been lodged with the State Insurance Office by yesterday afternoon, including claims for severe damage to about 30 houses.

Although an elderly Halswell resident died from an apparent heart attack about the time of the storm, most injuries w’ere surprisingly minor.

The tornado’s short, narrow trail could be seen vividly from the air yesterday. The point where it touched down, and the other where it petered out. seemed to be marked by gaps about 100 m wide in two lines of trees.

Trees in those gaps had been snapped off like matches. Trees on either side seemed to be untouched.

Orange tarpaulins were draped over roofs, and one house had its second storey sheared off. Debris littered backyards and marked the tornado’s path. Moving north, it had gone straight up Kinrara Place, wreaking most havoc

on houses at the northern end.

Further on. three big glasshouses were flattened by the winds.

Business was brisk for glass-repair firms. One company had 45 jobs from the Housing Corporation alone, and as many as 150 job orders in all from Halswell. Hornby, and Prebbleton. Zealandia Milling, Ltd, in Blenheim Road, lost 3*2 storeys of glass windows when hailstones struck the building’s west side. The mill workers were “pretty shocked" but there were no injuries, said the general manager, Mr C. A. McNally.

Corrugated plastic roofing had been destroyed, and hail had pierced plastic spouting.

Stained-glass windows in the St John of God Hospital Chapel looked as if they had been peppered by shotgun pellets. The window's are believed to be the oldest of their type in New Zealand, and suffered $25,000 damage. Weather patterns which brought the storm, the sixth hailstorm since early December, were likely to continue for several months, according to the Christchurch chief meteorologist, Mr A. I. Tomlinson.

A weather cycle which had started in August made the risk of such storms higher

than usual. The storm became a tornado when it hit the ground on a path of destruction

300 m to 400 m long. Its path was from 50m to 100 m wide. Most storm victims had their houses, contents, and vehicles insured, but many will suffer losses because of wind-ripped trees and shrubs which are not covered by insurance.

Mr J. G. Walker, the State Insurance Office manager in Christchurch, said it was too early to assess the total damage, but about $500,000 damage was probably done to houses. A team of assessors was sent to Halswell yesterday, and a temporary office to process claims was set up. The office will be open again today from 9 a.m. to midday. Its hours may be extended. Mr Walker was an assessor in Wellington during the storm that sunk the Wahine in 1968. He said that yesterday’s damage reminded him of destruction during that storm. He had spoken to Halswell residents yesterday as the representative of an emergency insurance committee. He had told them they would be covered under normal homeowners’ and householders’ policies for storm damage, and advised them to take reasonable steps to keep further damage to a minimum.

Mr Tomlinson said the recent high frequency of hail was causfed by thunderstorms which pushed air skywards very quickly. Moisture formed the hailstones and the high, fast-moving air held them up so that they gained in size and momemtum. The thunderstorms were occurring because of a predominant westerly to southwesterly airflow. Mr Tomlinson said that since August the general pattern had seen airflows originate further south and then swing up the eastern coast. The change in airflow patterns was the result of a “negative phase” of the southern oscillation. The oscillation had not been particularly active since 1972. However, Mr Tomlinson said its pressure was higher this year than it had been then. The oscillation’s influence could last from one to five years but Mr Tomlinson predicted that this phase would end by autumn.

Negative phases of the southern oscillation peaked when air pressure became high to the north-west of

Australia, as it was at present. The southern oscillation is a large-scale pressure variation which drops and rises in air-waves from north of Australia to Easter Island in the South Pacific Ocean.