TYPHOON’S PATH

Dominion, Volume 17, Issue 287, 21 August 1923, Page 7

TYPHOON’S PATH

GREAT DAMAGE IN CHINA VESSELS DRIVEN ASHORE MANY PEOPLE DROWNED Fearful havoc has been caused among shipping on the coast of China by the typhoon, a number of steamers being driven ashore, and many smaller craft capsized. The number of deaths is estimated at 500. By Telegraph.— Press Association, —copybight. Hong-Kong, August 18. It' is reported that numbers of anchored vessels, including several British. were driven ashore and damaged by the typhoon. It is also feared that a considerable number of casualties were caused afloat., The damage ashore is heavy. Many premises were damaged and unroofed, and the telephone, telegraph, and tramwav services are suspended. Police and soldiers in large numbers visited the seafront, but owing to the terrific seas were unable to render assistance. ' Six Chinese were electrocuted in Lowloon, owing to tlie falling of the wires. It is feared that a considerable number of other casualties occurred, but the facts are not ascertainable. —Aus.N.Z. Cable Assn. Hong-Kong, Angus 19. So far about twenty vessels, including a number of large steamers of various nationalities, are reported’ to be ashore in different places as the result of the typhoon. A few are. holed, and badly damaged, but the majority, it is expected, will be refloated. Many smaller craft suffered severely, and at least twenty junks and as many sampans were capsized. It is estimated that a hundred people were drowned. ■ Arriving vessels report encountering a considerable quantity of wreckage at sea. besides a large number of severely damaged vessels. At least fifty Chinese houses collapsed. Soldiers and firemen engaged in thte rescue work removed scores of dead and wounded from the debris.—Reuter. DEATHS ESTIMATED AT 500 WONDERFUL DEED OF LIFE-SAVING (Rec. August' 20, 9.30 p.m.) Hong-Kong, August 19. Saturday’s typhoon caused deaths tentatively estimated at 500, besides property damage yet untabulated. Tlie typhoon was the worst since 1905. The wind velocity reached 130 miles an hour. The rainfall during the worst two hours was nearly five inches. Squalls uprooted trees, snapped telegraph and telephone poles and unroofed houses. The typhoon furnished a terrifying spectacle. Mountainous seas swept the harbour, washed ovter the sea walls, flooding the lower streets, tearing quantities of variegated wreckage. The Japanese eteamer Sinye Marti provided the stage for a wonderful deed of life-saving, when a British submarine sailor named Twitegers got aboard a steamer and. then being lowered from her bow with a lifeline attached swam through the raging sea for 500 feet and saved Lieutenant Wicksou, commanding submarine L 9, which had sunk under him.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.