BUILDINGS COLLAPSE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 119, 23 May 1925, Page 8

BUILDINGS COLLAPSE

.WORST OF THE WEATHER NOW ■ - OVER. -

... "AUCKLAND, 22nd May. A heavy gale.swept over the city and. suburbs to-day, doing extensive damage to'paftly-erected dwellings. Seaside cottagss, in some areas, were also razed to the ground. Tne gale was accompanied "by heavy rain which has now eased off. Several launches in the harbour were ■driven ashore. Many houses in the city were shaken to the foundations and windows were blown in. Gardens fared badly, plants, in many cases, being levelled to the-ground: Wireless. aerials, in various parts of the city, were badly damaged. Tlie full fury of the gale struck the city at daybreak, after.'six hours pouring rain. The collapse of the temporary structure which housed the London mechanical exhibition was ono of the nigst-.- spectacular events of the storm, the building collapsing like a pack of cards. At.Surfdale, Waiheke, three cottages were blown away, and another at Howick.

The Main Trunk expresses are waiting in the Auckland station for word that the slips on the line .in the south have been cleared „away. It is hoped to get them away before midnight, though whether there will.be delay on the journey south is not known locally. Rough sea in the harbour made things lively for the ferry boats, which, howeyer, were able to keep to time-tables. Considerable inconvenience will be caused to -the shipping in port as delay is imiversal in view of the cessation of cargo operations- throughout the day. It is likely that the worst is over as the evening is calm with a rising glass.