GALE’S HAVOC

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 October 1928, Page 7

GALE’S HAVOC

DESTRUCTION IN N.S. WALES

FLOODS AND FIRES FOLLOW (Australian Press Association.) (By Cable—Press Assn.—Copyright.) SYDNEY, October 8. The damage resulting from yesterday’s cyclone in Sydney and its environs is estimated at not less than one million pounds sterling. Reports of destruction on a lesser scale are coming from all the centres between Newcastle and Gabo. Between two and three hundred men and women have been idled by the paper mills fire at Lane Cove which died out in a lurid blaze of greenish-yellow flames late in the evening, when it reached a building in which chlorine, sulphuric acid and other chemicals were stored. With a series of brilliant explosions this shed collapsed, and the firemen nearby found themselves unable to see, owing to the effect on their eyes of the liberated chlorine gas. The city fire engines were taken up the Parramatta River, on punts, and assisted to fight a losing battle against the conflagration. Bush fires have occurred in many places. A number of dwellings were destroyed by fire or by the gale, while garages and sheds were levelled in all directions.

A further fire occurred to-day, and destroyed a block of shops at the North Shore suburb of Cremorne. The damage is estimated at ten thousand sterling. The heat wave has continued to-day and this caused at Cremorne a shortage of water, which handicapped the firemen. In the. Southern districts floods are reported to be imminent, as the rivers are rising. The settlers on the river flats around Albury have been warned, and their stock is being removed to high ground. The Goulburn River was fifteen feet above normal this morning at Seymour, and it is expected that a portion of the town will be submerged tonight. Thousands of rabbits and many snakes have been drowned.

A poultry farmer, named Williams, had a startling experience at the height of the storm at Rydalmere. He was endeavouring to secure the iron roof of a house when an abnormal gust lifted the whole roof, with the man riding on it, and carried it over another shed where it crashed against a tree. Williams was taken to the hospital with an injured arm and a dislocated shoulder.

WOY WOY COTTAGES.

SYDNEY, October 9

Revised estimate of the cottages destroyed by fire at Woy Woy, a week-end resort, is now 62, valued at about £4OO each.

CANTERBURY REPORTS.

(Special to "Star.")

CHRISTCHURCH, October 8

A considerable amount of damage was done by the gale in the Springfield district. Chimneys were blown down, and trees uprooted, some falling across electric wires. The district was without electric power last evenAt Kowhai, a number of workers had a narrow escape from being crushed by a falling tree. The tent in which the men were sleeping had been erected under a large tree for shelter, but during Saturday night the tree was uprooted during the gale and crashed across the tent. The men, warned by the cracking sound, ran from the tent just in time to see the tree come down on it.

Battling with high winds, the telegraph linesmen were fighting to-day to maintain communications. All over the province damage was done by the big storm on Saturday night, but in the face of many difficulties, much of the damage was repaired to-day. The worst break in the telephone system occurred between Bealey and Darfield, where the telephone line connecting Christchurch with Greymouth had been brought down. There is still a gale raging in that part of the province to-day, the wind bringing with it pouring rain. Gradually, however, the linesmen got the wires joined again, restoring communication. Minor damage was also done both north and south of Christchurch, but it was not sufficient to stop telegraph traffic.

It is clear from the reports to hand that thousands of trees must have been blown down all over the Plains. The flood danger from the Waimakariri River, about which Dr Kidson sent a special warning, seems likely to pass. The river has not been in very high flood, and is already falling.

WAIMAK. GOING DOWN.

CHRISTCHURCH, October 9

The Waimakariri rose six feet during the night, but is receding to-day. No damage was done and traffic was not interrupted.

UPLIFTED ROOFS

WELLINGTON, October 8

Mr. Money’s house, at Hataitai suffered severe damage when it was struck by a. lifted roof from Aiderson’s place a portion of the timber and the tiles being flung through a passage into the breakfast room. Lumps of brick and mortar from damaged chimneys fell in all directions, and some of the tiles went flying as far as seventy feet.

An eye-witness said that Alderson’s roof rose, as if lifted by enormous hands, at ten past. nine.

A gust, sixty miles an hour, was recorded at Kelburn Observatory. It was 12.25 before the Maunganui was berthed.

DUST FROM AUSTRALIA ?

WELLINGTON, October 8.

To-day Wellington was treated to meteorological conditions of a distinctly uncanny character. After a night of howling wind, with gusts that shook the houses and tested the fences, the day broke grey, dreary and tempestuous, as far away from blithe, jocund spring as one could well imagine it to be.

The cable messages reported Sydney as being under a pall of “suspended dust,” and that its general direction was towards New Zealand. Whether this dust could travel as far as New Zealand in the time or not, has not been established, but the fact remained that between 9.30 a.m. and 11.30

a.m. the light from above hardly corresponded with that which usually prevails in grey murky weather. It was a sickly, yellow light—not unlike the effect gained when one looks at the world through amber-tinted glasses; and the only likely explanation for this effect offered was that it might be due to the action of the sun’s rays coming through a pall of the suspended dust referred to in the cable message. Curiously enough, as soon as rain fell, the yellow tinge faded from the colour scheme.

TARANAKI’S EXPERIENCE.

HAWERA, October 9

Yesterday,, the sky in South Taranaki was heavily overcast, necessitating the use of artificial light indoors. The sunlight, which struggled through the clouds, had the effect of casting a golden brown light, giving rise to the suggestion that the Australian dust storm found its way here.

This morning, gfter the night’s rain, there was a deposit of reddish brown dust on the glass houses and oilier objects. A local farmer states that the dust resembles that accompanying a. recent, importation of Australian potatoes. BUSH FIRES IN POVERTY BAY. GISBORNE, October 9. Fires raging through the fallen bush ami logs at Tekopua and adjacent properties, are expected to cause severe stock losses. At 11.30 a.m. the fire covered 2000 acres and was spreading. Owing to/the high wind, settlers are having difficulty in clearing the paddocks. Fear 'is entertained for the safetv of a party of five men, who left Tekopua. early and had not returned at noon. A settler, Torrie, was thrown from his horse, which dashed forward into the blazing country, and was lost. GISBORNE, October 9.

The men missing at Kopua turned up safely at 12.30. The wind is now working round to the south, which mav mean, an extension of the damage.