HAVOC WROUGHT
FURY OF WHIRLWIND SCHOOL AND FARMS SUFFER Considerable damage was done yesterday afternoon at Otara when a fierce whirlwind struck the district, states a message from Opotiki published in today's . "New Zealand Herald." A terrifying time was experienced by the school children attending the Otara School when the building was struck, and they were lucky to escape] without injury. • A neighbour, Mr. P. Black, who .came to the children's assistance, had to break open the door of the building before an exit was possible. An examination of the school last night revealed that the building was shifted .bodily a distance of 4ft. Some of the supporting blocks were torn right out of the ground, while nearly all the remainder were knocked over. The shelter shed near the school received the full force of the whirlwind and was literally blown to pieces, only the blocks remaining. Before reaching the school the whirlwind struck the cowshed at Mr. S. H. Parkinson's farm, and the roof was carried away. The Otara Valley suffered severely, large oak trees being torn from the ground. The side of a huge pine free was caught by the wind and was completely stripped away. Iron covering haystacks on Mr. C. Black's farm was carried right across the Otara River, a distance of more than 800 yards.
Continuing, the whirlwind travelled over the bed of the Otara River. Willow trees were flattened to the ground. The' electric power supply was cut off and telephonic communication disorganised. The two telephone lines between Opotiki and Otara were broken, arid it was not expected that repairs would be effected until today.
The full force of the storm is estimated to.have extended over a width of about five chains. A fierce hailstorm followed the whirlwind, hail falling for ten minutes. The noise created by the whirlwind and accompanying storm could be heard at the Opotiki dairy factory some miles away. The Waioeka district also experienced a violent storm accompanied by ban.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 146, 23 June 1938, Page 11
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330HAVOC WROUGHT Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 146, 23 June 1938, Page 11
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