A TORNADO.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 1 November 1924, Page 12

A TORNADO.

IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. SYDNEY, Oct. 15. Seldom is a tornado of such violence as one which swept over the southern portion o-f the Continent on Tuesday experienced in Australia. A large area of Victoria, Tasmanian, Soutn. Australia, and Western Australia was affected, and it will be some time befor the full extent or the damage is ascertained, on account of telephone and telegraph wires having been ruined over long distances. In one part of South Australia the force was so great that not- only were the overhead wires carried away in tangled masses, but both iron and timber poles were shattered. The timber poles were snapped off like matchwood at their bases, and the metal ones were so twisted that their tops reached tlie ground.

Messages from country towns show that weather-board structures at many of .the more exposed centres suffered enormously, and there were many thrilling escapes fro-m collapsing buildings. Sheets of roof iron were carried about like aeroplanes, and people had to keep a sharp look-out when they crashed to the ground. Devastation was wrought at one of the. South • Australian soldier settlements, many -of Ihe homes being swept away, and the same fate overtaking one of the churches—all built of timber. ' The tornado struck the place at about teatime, . and one family was astonished to find its evening meal, table and everything, caught up by a terrific force just as they were about to sit do-wn, and carried from the back verandah some distance down a paddock. All went in pursuit, and were gathering up broken crockery and food, when they were horrified to see the roof and part of the walls of the, flimsilv-huilt borne following the tea things. * i The edge of the visitation struck Hobart later in the evening, accompanied by rain and lightning. Although it did not assume- its full violence there, some of the experiences were exciting enough. Large circus tents in the Domain housed a number of animals, and to the consternation of the keepers,' partially collapsed. In the state of wild excitement that ensued, with, the men frantically endeavouring to secure the terrified animals, a big bull elephant crashed its way through entanglements of rope and canvas and plunged through the Domain. In a moment or two it, was enveloped in the pitch darkness. , Through the .rain a number of the keepers gave chase,’ and every now and again vivid flashes of !■ '’Luuht showed the elephant rushing madly towards the town, with its head low down to the ground. As it reached the streets motorists and pedestrians joined in the chase, until several hundreds of people were in pursuit, whilst those ahead, upon hearing the tumult along the streets above the howling gale, scatered like chaff as the elephant thundered past. Some motorists drew alongside the great beast, but were powerless to stop its progress, and pt length, it was lost in the darkness in the less populous outskirts of the city.. After an anxious night beating about in the darkness, the keepers were able to recapture it soon after dawn on the following morning.