DAMAGE IN BOTH ISLANDS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 19, 23 January 1926, Page 6

DAMAGE IN BOTH ISLANDS

YACHTS WRECKED AT AUCKLAND TELEGBAPHIC COMMUNICATION INTEERUPTED. (BI m«ORAPH._*IUSB »aSOCUTWI.) AUCKLAND, 22nd Jan. A north-easterly gale of considerable severity swept over the city to-d-.y, piling up a number of pleasure craft on the rocks and inflicting minor damage on buildings exposed to the; full force of the wind. When the storm was at its height in the early hours of the morning several shop 1 verandahs in the city and suburbs were demolished, and in several instances windows were broken.

Telegraphic communication was rendered difficult during the greater part of the clay, a number of lines both north and south of Auckland being interfered with. The telephone lines suffered more seriously, and longdistance communication was impossible during a part of the day.

Exciting scenes were witnessed in the harbour when efforts were made to secure a number of small craft which had drifted away from their moorings. The damage caused by the gale among yachts and launches was heavy, the toll of the storm taking in the 16-foot yacht Limit, and half-a-dozen smaller craft. The Harbour Board's launches and motor pinnaces from H.M.B. Diomede had an extremely busy time rescuing the pleasure chaft in the harbour from drifting out to sea or being smashed on the rocks.

The yacht Limit, which broke from her moorings, was swept on to the rocks in the centre of Judge* Bay, and after being buffeted about for several hours broke up finally about midday, and in the afternoon nothing remained of the vessel but a few floating pieces of wreckage. Passengers travelling between North Bhore and the city by ferry during the forenoon had very stormy passages. cargo work was done on the wharves owing to heavy rain, and the sailing of the Marama for Sydney has been postponed until 3 o'ctock tomorrow afternoon. Small coastal ships were unable to sail, and incoming overseas ships report considerable delay. Electric power failed in a portion of the city to-night, and the trams stopped running for nearly half an hour.

The weather has now greatly moderated.