WIND AND DUST

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 100, 30 April 1938, Page 8

WIND AND DUST

STORMS IN N.S.W.

DROUGHT UNBROKEN

(From "The Post's" Representative.) SYDNEY, April 23.

The worst dust storms in twenty years swept over southern and western areas of New South Wales during the weekend, and dust, blown from inland, formed a thick haze over Sydney on Sunday afternoon. The Melbourne-Sydney and , main western telephone lines were torn down by flying iron from roofs, and communication, was interrupted for several hours. Seven Royal Australian Air Force machines were forced down by dust storms, and 60 miles an hour head winds while on their way to Kichmond (New South Wales) from Laverton (Victoria)'.

Farm buildings at Junee were unroofed and outbuildings and "stacks blown over in,a tornado which followed a day of intense discomfort caused by the dust. The street lighting in the town was cut off for half an hour, the wires having been blown down.

Dust in Hay and Nyngan shrouded those towns in darkness. At Hay, Constable Page and other men were wood-cutting, and had just cut down a tree when the storm arose. For some time they were unable to find their motor-lorry,/and were shouting to each other from only ten paces' distance. In the town, visibility did not extend beyond six, feet. Creeping under doors and between the ledges of the windows, the dust invaded homes and shops. It formed scales on people's lips, and made breathing a discomfort.

In Nyngan all traffic ceased, doors and windows were firmly shut, and the lights were put on. At Temora motor traffic was brought almost to a standstill, so thick was the blanket o£ dust. From Dubbo to Gilgandra all traffic was held up completely for nearly an hour. At Cootamundra residents could see only a few feet in front of them. A motorist, unable to see the road, drove his car into a ditch.

Meteorologists had forecast that this storm .would bring relief to droughtstricken areas, but apart from heavyshowers in a few scattered districts, the central and western portions of the State remain in the clutch of a costly dry speli.