CANTERBURY GALE

Evening Star, Issue 21723, 18 May 1934, Page 9

CANTERBURY GALE

HOUSE UKROOFEB WfIKAH’S NERVE-TRYING EXPERIENCE [Peh United Press Association.]• CHRISTCHURCH, May 18. Tom from its fastenings by last night’s 70-mile-an-hour gale, part of the roof of Mr C. S. Cooper’s house at Huntsbury Spurs landed in a gully 200yds away. The house is on the summit of the Spur, and received: the full force of. the blast. whole building gave a shudder at 4.43 p.m., and with a sharp report an area of roof 16ft by 10ft soared high into the ah - . The mass of timber and iron cleared: the remainder of the house and the road, and touched the ground 60ft away. Here part of the; timber drove bai-cl into the rain-softened earth, leaving fragments of wood behind; the rest careered down the hillside.: Finally it rested in a clump of gorse. Mrs Cooper was alone in the house at the time. She said it was a nervewracking experience. She did not know whether the remainder of the house would withstand the gusts. Water commenced to pour through the ceiling and to flood the rooms, Mr Cooper, who was sent for, got home to find the house in a state of desolation.

This morning Cooper, electricians, and carpenters were working in the snow and hail, driven by a high gale, trying to replace the iron.