Roofs off, trees toppled

Press, 28 June 1983, Page 1

Roofs off, trees toppled

Geraldine reporter Sunday was a night of terror for some residents of Woodbury and surrounding districts, Bkm from Geraldine, when nor-west winds of up to 100 knots buffeted and damaged their homes. Hundreds of trees were uprooted, and a number of farm buildings were destroyed in the freak winds, apparently funnelled through river gorges. The Four Peaks and Peel Forest areas were also affected.

Mr and Mrs Ron Glanville, spent an anxious night sheltering outside in the lee of their home at Woodbury when iron, timber, and glass from a shed and glasshouse on the property next door crashed through the wall of their home late on Sunday evening. Objects, including broken glass, whirled past at great speed. All the roofing iron from the home of Mr Hugh Holmes was blown off. At the Woodbury Store the front door and the glass windows upstairs were blown in, scattering glass everywhere. The owner, Mr Michael Reynolds, feared that the roof of the store would also blow off in the wind. Signposts were another casualty of the gale and staff of the Automobile Association (South Canterbury) were busy yesterday repairing these. Some Woodbury residents replaced tiles on their roofs yesterday. Farm sheds, hay-

barns, fowlhouses, television aerials, and glasshouses were also damaged. While the areas near the foothills were the most seriously affected, Geraldine township, Bkm away, was relatively free from damage. However, Orari Bkm to the east of Geraldine, was also buffeted by gale-force winds. Mr Jack Waller, chairman of the Geraldine Racecourse Trustees, said that he estimated damage costing several thousand dollars was done when wind blew over and completely destroyed a unit of 15 covered horse stalls and a racebook selling stall. The Geraldine Volunteer Fire Brigade received four calls, including three to plantation fires, between 10.45 a.m. and 11.30 p.m. on Sunday. The fire chief, Mr Gordon Irvine, said last evening that the fires at Woodbury took four hours to fight and the Temuka brigade had

had to send an engine to Geraldine on standby. “The gale was so strong that the firemen could not stand up at times,” said Mr Irvine, who estimated the wind at 100 knots. In Mid-Canterbury about 1000 homes, including the whole of Methven, were without power from early yesterday after trees brought down power lines. The Ashburton Power Board’s chief engineer, Mr E. Weir, said Alford Forest, the Rangitata Gorge, Montalto, Klondyke Carew, and Coldstream were all affected. A “substantial” haybarn at Ealing lost its roof and several small buildings there had been overturned in the gale. A Carew woolshed also lost its roof, said Mr A. R. Reith, the Rangitata riding representa tive in the Ashburton County Council. The biggest problem was damage to fences crushed by trees.

On one property he knew of sheep had been crushed by falling trees. The number killed was difficult to estimate because the fallen trees were so dense. At Ruapuna, about 10 acres of a County Council plantation of Oregon pines nearing maturity were blown down, obstructing State highway 72. Mrs B. A. Tasker, a Ruapuna resident, said the area round Ruapuna and down the Rangitata River had suffered extensive damage. She had heard reports of silo tops lost and shed roofs and iron sheeting torn off. On one farm on the EalingMontalto Road about 40 shelter-belt trees had been torn up. This appeared to be an average loss in the area, she said.