£10,000 DAMAGE

Grey River Argus, 1 May 1944, Page 4

£10,000 DAMAGE

WESTPORT TORNADO

Over Forty Houses Suffer ■

[Per Press Association] WESTPORT, April 30. No fewer than forty houseB nd damage by a tornado which occurred at Westport on Saturday morning early. A stormy n!ght tor . mlnated at four o’clock with the i nado, which appeared to come the south-east. Man v of the telephone lines were broken. It is anticipated that some days will elapse before repairs are effected to the lines. worst The storm was decidedly the worst on the West Coast for a very long period. The wind was terril fP; was fully realised by the reside s that damage would be severe, as tn howling of the elements was mosi alarming. The tornado was prc ce ° by heavy rain during the night, ai a by a thunderstorm. A number 0 houses and hotels lost more or less o their roofing. The iron was wattea into the air and carried a c , on , sl de rab ® distance. Some sheets lodged on power poles. The power lines were brought down and lay scattered about tn various places. The whole roof of one house was blown away, and the house itself, one of six rooms, was forced off the piles and blown almost completely round. There were six inmates, a mother ana five children. T'hev suffered no injury. Many chimneys were damaged, while verandahs and radio aerials also suffered. Many out-houses, trees and fences are levelled to the ground. The electric linesmen have been busy repairing the broken elect! ic and telephone lines. The Mayor, Mr. J. M. Robertson, has advised Hon. P. C. Webb that a conservative estimate of the damage Is £lO,OOO. This is generally regarded as very conservative. The Mayor has urged the Minister to try and send immediately to Westport at least fifteen carpenters as well as plumbers.

COLD WEEK-END IN GREY. Although not otherwise affected, this district experienced on Saturday morning a peculiar sequence in the wind about the time that a tornaao struck Westport. At 3 a.m. a light north-easterly was blowing, when suddenly the wind changed to north, and by 3.15 a.m. a strong northerly gale prevailed. By 4 o’clock, the wind had reversed its original direction and was blowing lightly from the southwest, but a quarter of an hour later, it again made a rapid return to its earlier direction, proceeding gently from the north-east. A particularly stormy day wa's experienced on Saturday, when heavy rain fell throughout, driven by a strong northerly wind. A cold snap about 3 o’clock in the afternoon did nothing to mitigate the conditions which were particularly miserable at about 6 p.m., when exceptionally heavy falls of rain and hail was experienced. In some localities, hailstones were found to be lying about six inches deen on the thoroughfare. In the twenty-four hours ended at 9 a.m. yesterday 2.04 inches of rain fell, bringing the month’s total to nearly fifteen inches. The weather cleared, yesterday, but owing to the soaked conditions of the ground, various sporting activities could not be proceeded with. Though Saturday appeared to be the colder day, actually at 9 o’clock yesterday morning was four degrees lower than at any time the previous day. In the early morning on Saturday the temperature was 51 degrees, increasing to 55 at noon. At 3 p.m., however, the days lowest reading of 48 degrees was recorded, and it remained at that level during the evening. At midnight though only 46 degrees was recorded, decreasing to •45 bv 6 a.m. yesterday, and to 44 by 9 a.m. This was the lowest temperature recorded this year. By noon, however, warmer conditions prevailed and the temperature steadily increased until at 6 p.m. it was 55 degrees. ...