FLORIDA HURRICANE

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1945, Page 2

FLORIDA HURRICANE

ENORMOUS DAMAGE CAUSED NEW YORK, Sept. 17. A hurricane swept Virginia, Florida, and the vicinity. Damage caused from wind and fire during the hurricane is estimated at fifty million dollars. The greatest loss, one of between thirty and forty million dollars, occurred at Richmond at a blimp base, where three hangars—forming the largest single span of wooden structures in the world —collapsed in a gale of a velocity of 120 miles an hour. The gale caused planes to burst into flames, as wreckage fell on them. Another fire destroyed two factories in another part of the town of Richmond. In Miami, the hurricane smashed plate glass windows, overturned cars, and blew the roofs off many houses. The Miami streets along the waterfront were flooded. The residents in this area were evacuated earlier. All of the public buildings in the area affected by the hurricane were throwrf open to the public as emergency shelters. Before the hurricane arrived, the Navy sent the ocean-go-ing submarines at the West Naval Station, in Florida, to sea.