A REMARKABLE WHIRLWIND.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3486, 8 September 1882, Page 4

A REMARKABLE WHIRLWIND.

Tbe following letter has been addressed to tbe Melbourne Argus :— I was an eye-witness to tho effects of tho whirlwind which passed over tho northern suburbs on Sunday afternoon. At Clinton

> Hill, while enjoying a cigar and watching two of my youngsters at play on the garden walk, I beard an unaccountable noise, like the sound of tropical rain that steadily nears a becalmed vessel. The air was so still that the leaves of the ti'ees hung motionless, and sounds were audible at unusual distances. Turning to the eastward, whence the noise appeared to come, I saw the corrugated iron roof of a building, which was itself hidden from view by intervening villas, mount in the air and distribute itself with picturesque elegance as if by the action of dynamite. The trailing shreds of cloud dependent from the main mass of vapour above now began writhing in a manner very suggestive of a waterspout. Seizing a youngster with each hand, I made very good time indeed across the paddock. . About midway the whirlwind passed me, its centre composed of pieces of sheet iron, bagging, slates, &c. This gyrating mass of lethal weapons was for the duration of a second within ten yards of the writer. It made the scene somewhat lively. Instantly afterwards the collection of odds and ends rose in mid air a thousand feet up, circling towards Brunswick, where, I trust the distribution of gifts was heartly appreciated. To the six empty kerosene tins taken from my back yard I am sure the Branswickers are heartily welcome.