WORST SINCE 1914

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 89, 12 October 1931, Page 8

WORST SINCE 1914

CANTERBURY SMITTEN

(By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") CHEISTCHUBCH, 11th October

A north-west gale, the most violent since October, 1914, raged throughout part of Canterbury yesterday, and did widespread, though minor damage to telephone lines, lighting reticulation, and to tree plantations right along the head of the plains from Oxford to well down into Ashburton County.

Fallen trees and telephone or power lines and damaged farm buildings testified to the unusual strength of the gale, auc] the slightly swollen river 3to the heavy rain which fell for hours in the hills.'

The gale blew from about 11 a.m. until well into the night, but attaineo. its greatest force duri. g mid-afternoon, and it was at this time that most of the damage was done. On the West Coast, the nor'-west wind blowing in from the sea brought extremely heavy rain, as it did on the mountains on the Canterbury side, and some of this rain was blown down with wind as far as Darfield, a rare occurrence during a nor'-wester. It was at Darfield* exposed to the full force of the gale, that most of the damage was done, and in the big pinus insignus plantations many of the older trees were either uprooted or snapped high Up and thrown to the ground. Passengers on the West Coast train to Christchurch saw all along the line from Cass evidence of the force of the gale, and in one plantation passed it seemed, from a casual survey, that every second tree on the most exposed side had been completely uprooted. A HALL SHAKEN. There was an exciting incident during the height of the gale at Darfield, when the Memorial Hall, in which a flower show was being held, began to shake so much that it was thought expedient to tie the building down with ropes. Shingles were torn off many roofs and scattered.. In this part of - Canterbury, and, in fact, everywhere in the higher country, telephone wires and electric power lines were damaged, wires either being broken by the sheer force of the wind or through. falling trees. The strain was in many cases so great that poles fell. At Darfield it was impossible to communicate by telephone with the outlying districts, and in the Rakaia Gorge district there was similar trouble. Here, and at Hororata, residents were without power for lighting or cooking until <this afternoon. Advertisement hoardings were blown down everywhere. MUCH DAMAGE DONE. The District Telegraph Engineer, Mr. J. C. Fairbain, stated last evening that a considerable amount of damage had been done in the Ashburton, Hinds, Mayfield, and Springburn districts to subscribers' lines. Serious trouble had been experienced on the West Coast line between Arthur's Pass and the Bealey, but communication with the West Coast was restored today.

An intense thunderstorm was experienced at Lake Coleridge, where lightning and fallen trees.interfered with the power lines to the city. The supply lines were repaired by this afternoon.