A Tornado in Queensland.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 89, 23 March 1876, Page 6

A Tornado in Queensland.

Tbe ' Port Denison. Times', has. . jthe following particulars respecting tlie tornado that-passed oyer Bowen on tlie 16th February : — That ; night; will long be remembered by those resident in Bowen at the time, ..Little. diqt;ihey (; think on rising on that morning to.be-: gin their daily labour that ere midnight ruin amldesolafion would be in' their midst; but, alas ! so it was, and before 10 o'clock at. night Amahy a house vyas laid low. The day passed on, evening set in, and most people hadAretired to their homes, little anticipating that in a few hours many of them' would be homeless, their, house-tree shattered, and their, property destroyed. Shortly after 9 o'clock a low, dull, rumbling sound, was heard, whicli • was thought at first by those who heard it' to have been distant : thunder, arid, by ; nnmbers to have .been the surf beating ori the shore. Coming from the north, and gathering strength as it swept on, the tornado rushed with irresistable force through the town, levelling to the. earth every thing.it ; cpme in contact with, "ft swept on its course like a tidal wave of gigantic size rather than impalpable air, and every obstacle went dovyn. before it. The gust, in addition to its terrible sound, was accompanied by, as , sdme people, assert, balls of fire; and 'Mr -Marlow assures us that a -thunderbolt went through the wall of his house, leaving a round, well-defined hole. It was alLover in a few seconds, but in that incredibly short time property, to the. value of many hundreds of pounds was destroyed. We may mention, : as showing the inconceivable force of the wind, that-the.roof'of'-MrSibler's house — not merely a sheet of iron — was carried across the water and landed on the Newstead side of the bay. The removal of Captain Bristowe's , house, with its inmates, without dislodging an article of furniture— the lamp, even remaining lighted all the time — may. be mentioned as another, marvel. Trees were most j carefully barked, but not blown down. A man was carrit-d on a stretcher. across the street from Wagner's, without feeling any motion The wind, having j done what mischief it. could on shore, crossed the bay, and ploughed its.;way through the scrub, to the open sea, where it is to be hoped it. met with no unfortunate mariners. We cannot con : cnive a vessel living through that terribly sudden onslaught. A gentleman residing at Bowen writes to a friend — "We arrived here during a heavy north west squall, raining as it.onlycanin this latitude, and , being* as dark as rCrebus. We had just finished tea (half past 9 pm,) when it fell a flat calm, still raining. Suddenly we -heard; a tremendous roaring Mr Harbour, the ownw of the lodging-hose, an old friend of mine, was outside, and he suddenly yelk-d out 'A cyclone!' As is. the custom here in such coses, all hands rushed for. the beach — about a 100 yds: away — in order to squat under the fal.se beach. But before we got halt-way (the wind was upon us.. It was truly terrific — rain,- timber, iron roof's*, aridL'a I dull glare, lightening in round balls, all in a mass together. It alfoccupiHd I about three minutes from the time itcommenced • until the end — I mean from the time we heard the first roaring. The roaring of the thunder and wind was tremendous. After all, it was only a. whirlwind about a quarter ofmile in diame - er. I don't know how 14 people gr« uped together as were escaped the timber, &o, ; tons of • it must have passed over, as the ground was ploughed up in the track of the squall as if grape and canister had been fired. . Not a house in the direct tract had one board left upon. another. One of my horses,, hobbled ; close to where we sat down, was ; cut to pieces with iron, and died ' next morning.: People were buried in the ruins of different houses, but no one has died. as yet.,, All the houses are wooden. A: large house with 14 rooms, not in the direct line, was carried 20 yards,, being, lifted off, the piles and plumped, down initsproper.position. A horse -and stable are missing altogether. The doors of -the stable were picked up to-day. > floating in the bay, ;but nothing ?else, so it -is supposed that. the rest was blown bodily out- to sea." „....•