SEVERE CYCLONE

Evening Post, Issue 29, 4 February 1935, Page 17

SEVERE CYCLONE

DAMAGE NEAR CAMBRIDGE

RESIDENTS' EXPERIENCES

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, February 3.

An area of farm land in the vicinity of the Karapiro dairy factory, about six miles south of Cambridge, was struck by a cyclonic disturbance of exceptional severity at 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon.. Considerable damage was done to farms. Peals of thunder and flashes of lightning gave warning of the coming storm. Heavy black clouds gathered and terrific wind followed and became centred in the form of a whirlwind in Whitehall Road Valley. Mr. F. P. Ganley was in the fields when the whirlwind approached. He saw a haystack shaken by the force of the wind and its top lifted and scattered about the paddock. Mr. Ganley tried to make his way towards the stack, but he was blown backwards. The occupants of Mr. J. W. Ganley's house were terrpr^-strlcken, and expected the building, to collapse; The walls and roof of tfti garage were torn off, and the iron was carried a' chain away. Branches of ,a large wiljpw t^ee. were torn off; and on tfie. opposite side of the road branches pi a iarge' wattle tree near.Mr. t A.^Frpst's-home were broken ofL The brariches weighed maiiy tdiis; and' cine' crashed on td the washhpuse, cdriipletely; wreckirig the building. Andthef branch scraped the side Of the dwelling, but did ho dariiage: . . . ■'.-.'.'• A large pinus insignis-,tree on the farm was b'rbketi dff at the base, and a dozen 6'ther tfgeS had tHeir branches torn off. Sheet irbri was wrenched from haystacks in .the neighb'oufiiig farms, arid WaS caiffie'ei soriie distance, while the impleipent shed on Mr.- J. Montgomery's farm was blown ■to pieces: Tiie,wiria,Ble^ with' hurricane force for half an hour; .and then fain fell in torrents. The deluge was so heavy thai it tvas inip'essible id see moirei than a_ dozen: paces ahead. Hail as large as chestnuts accompanied the rain, and made £ terrifying noise oh the roofs of .houses; -.-..- . ■■ '. There were many narrow escapes from injuries, but no stock was lost. Elderly settlers were at a!loss for words_ to describe the . extraordinary pheiidmeno'ii through which they had passed. , They said that., the atm6sphefd was uncanny,- and 4hey had never experienced anything like it befctfeV ■•.-.. •■■■■'.■ It is estimated that 6ver three inches of rain fell within an hour.