DREADFUL CYCLONE AND LOSS OF 1,016 LIVES AT CALCUTTA.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 57, 3 February 1868, Page 29

DREADFUL CYCLONE AND LOSS OF 1,016 LIVES AT CALCUTTA.

(Prom the Calcutta Englishman, November 8.) On Friday, Ist November, the. sky was overcast and lowering, the pall of cloud was unusually ;low, and masses of scud were whirled swiftly away to leeward all day long. The gloom of the day was added to by frequent, rain squalls; the day, in fact, was just one of those for which November in England has acquired so unpleasant a, reputation. As it wore on, the signs of bad weather increased. About 3 o’clock, the. barometer began to show signs of falling, and the wind came down in fiercer gusts. Matters remained in this state, till dusk, when it was evident to the most careless, that Calcutta was about to .be visited by a storm, which would rival the now famous cyclone of sth October, 1864. Men went home from office ;to hurry through dinner and prepare for the struggle, and although some daring spirits went to the Opera, they were the exception. At 10 o’clock, the fastenings of doors and windows began to be severely tasked, and the storm rushed over the city with a heavy murmurous roar, like a fierce surf beating on a shingle beach. This roar , never lulled until daylight} but every few minutes it swelled up. into a thunder of wind and rain, marking the approach of heavier Bqualls. . , tip tto half-past 1 the storm was content with rattling doors and windows furiously, but now it forced Its way into the'well guarded dwellings of the European portion of this city, and tore off here a sash,' here a .Venetian, here a door. This houses shook under; the weight pf the - ( blows: dealt .them,- and ■. often and • ahxioply, wjare t thetiine-pieces .consulted to. see ;how night, wore away. . Soon •afte® r 2,.however, there was a sensible abatement. of the. stormthe gustaVwere AB;fieroeM.fiyer,;butthe,intervalsbetrween |hem;,w,ere ; longar:By '3 the strength; of; the

and by, 4 the ;hurricane, had. becpme("a strong westerly? gale,!, and. .people-began to count up the-damage tbey had sustained, and to hope for’day light, 'to- enable 'them tp ascertain : .t)ieii| neighbors.' Few slept that nigHt, ! and there' are' few who could wish to pass .such another night, or to battle again, with a gale which has wrought .the. city as. much if hot, more injury, than even the great cyclone. : .

THE BIVEB. The hurricane fortunately swept down; the nver instead of up. It thus had no battle with the tide, instead of bringing with it so dreaded an auxiliary as- the storm-wave, whioh in the cyclone did so much damage. Having only to contend against the wind, the ships in harbor, as a rule, were enabled to ,ride out the storm with far lesß injury and danger than might have been anticipated. The .steamer Orissa, whioh was to have left this morning, is a helpless wreck.. She seems smashed, her masts are broken, her funnel broken and- twisted, • her bulwarks stove in, and she has gone down fortunately so near shore, as to be on shore, rather than sunk. The Furnas Abbey, in the middle of the river, is *dmost as ibadly off as the Orissa.. The at I'3o a.m. dragged her anchors, having a number of cargo boats foul of _ Previous to this she had paid out a sufficient quantity of chain to enable her to weather the storm, but she and the India got foul of one another, and both sustained some damage.-- The tug steamer Sestos is on shore at Bagh. BazaarJC&nal, where she quite blocks the way to the river. Another steamer with red funnels has foundered off Cossipore. ■ Close to Armenian Ghat the Jadel Curreem is on shore by the stern, and has lost her mizenmasfc. The Arabia is also on shore near her. The P. &O. Company have lost their tender, the Howrah, and the Police hulks have been unroofed. THE TOWN. Garden Beach has been robbed of nearly all the trees spared by the cyclone,—a remark which applies generally to the city, the roads are strewn with dead crows, and opposite 80. 8, an enormous tree has fallen, and completely blocked up the road.

Beaching the Strand, the Bank of. Ben-, gal has lost many shades and has a good deal of glass broken. The Bengal Office has also suffered severely, and, in fact, the ravages of the storm are apparent on every house along the road. At Aheeretolloh Ghat several sheds have been gutted, and the engine house has been literally wrecked. Several lives have been lost here. In the native portion of the town scarcely a hut is standing ; very many puTca houses have fallen, and at three o’clock the return of natives killed was given at:'—Northern division 63, middle ditto 18, Southern ditto 18 j total 99. -

In the European portion of the city, window frames, Venetians, balustrades, and doors have been blown away in nearly every house. Trees have been overthrown in all directions, and the Maidan was converted into a shallow lake. The storm was particularly hard upon our amuse* ments. The opera got through three acts, but then the gale found its way into the house, and put audieuce and actors to an ignominous flight. The opera house has not suffered very severely; a portion of the roof has disappeared, the trappings have been spoilt by the rain, and a few scenes have been injured. Turning to the Maidan, Lewis’s theatre presented at. daylight the miserable spectacle of a confused heap of wood, in the midst of scattered sheets of corrugated iron, amongst which several forlorn individuals were seeking after properties. Four men were Bleeping under the stage at the time the theatre collapsed, and fortunately escaped unhurt. The enterprising proprietor has begun to re-erect the structure, which he promises to have ready by Monday week. The Japanese, however, persevering in their illfortune had their mats, blown all over the plain, and their tent carried into the tank at the end of Lindsay-street. At the corner of Hoomayoon-place there waei a singular instance of the terrific power of the wind j a sheet of corrugated iron, blown apparently from the roof of the stables of the Calcutta Club, was bent round the corner of the compound wall adjoining the street, and fixed there so firmly as to be moved with difficulty. In Jaun Bazaar, a soyce was killed alongside his horse which waß also killed. A little further west, two persons were crushed, one was killed on the spot, and the other was removed to the hospital. At the back of Rasmoney Losses’s 'house, a mother and daughter were overwhelmed in the fall of their house. The mother died, but the daughter was, removed dangerously wounded to the hospital. A$ the back of Hunter and Co.’s stables in Lhurrumtolish a European woman, was killed , by the falling of a,wall. In Wellesley-square, the cross : . and pardon of the steeple of the little ohuroh were blown do.wn, as was also, one of the pinnacles. A little to the east a two-storied pucka was completely destroyed, and the native huts crushed by the falling of trees, one of whioh was precipitated • on to a two-storied .house. In, the square itself only one tree is-left. /; , No': less , than . 300., gaß-lights were blown out, hut no. .damage . was . done to the gas-works, and the, town, will, this... evening, be lighted;, ,up'/as , usual. Government House suffered in: its doors and; windows, and the railing on its dome; “ London” had : its. board and . awning blown away j . the . Great . Eastern , rand Spence’s .; have > suffered about equally. Mountain’s Hotel has lost its.side verandah, and has had several windows blown- in. The new Post*,office. hat lost /the;. .skeleton

of its dome ; one of the iron ribs is hanging in a most' dangerous position over the parapet, -Kiddorpore Churoh has lost its steeple, and < the Catholic Church in Middleton Bow has been seriously injured. St. Matthew’s' Church has lost a pinnacle and sustained. other slight; damage. St. James’s Church, too, has lost its weathercock, and the roof of the municipality yrorkshops at .Entally has been blown off into the middle of the road, where the cooliesand Palkeewallahs have to accomplish the difficult feat of climbing over it. . .THE POUT. In the Fort several of the few trees left after the oyclone of 1864 are thrown down, lying in. different- directions,/ chiefly, however, north-west,, to south-east. The pinnacles on the north-east side of the church are-: all down. • They fell oh the outer roof and crushed it in. .The pinnacle at the west or rather north-west is also down, and the west (N.W.) window completely blown in., The inner roof remains, and . except that a quantity of water has poured • into the church, and that the vaulting has been strained, little damage is done to the interior. ■>

Sheets of corrugated iron are lying scattered about, some at a distance of 100 yards on the top of the Staff Barracks. A gharrie left without a horse under the north porch of the .church was driven twenty or thirty yards by the wind, and brought up by the shafts striking in soft ground. Shutters and sun-shades lie scattered about in all directions, but we have heard of no greater damage than that mentioned at present.. THE SUBUBBS. At Scaldah the wind unroofed the station, a feat which even the cyclone failed to accomplish, and drove Beveral carriages off the line. It next attacked the old Scaldah Market, the present pauper hospital, and aU through the long and bitter night, it poured its fury, and hurled clouds of cold and piercing rain over a miserable crowd of 369 sick. The Bheds for cooking, &0., attached to this hospital were carried away, and the appearance it presented in the morning was forlorn and wretched beyond*,conception. From Alipore we hear of five deaths. From Ballygunge there is a report that pnk.a house lias fallen, and kiUed a European and his wife. From Entally thirty-one deaths were reported. All through the suburbs the roads are lined with the well-known, unwieldy, metal clamped and bound strong boxes in which natives delight, serving on the present occasion as a drying-ground for the wreck of their personal effects. At Dum-Dum the “ great tree” has been overthrown. The racket-court has been blown down, and the roads ar,e strewn with the dead bodies of cattle and horses ; there has also been, we fear, great, loss of life among the natives. 'At Barrackpore the damage done has been even greater than at' Dum-Dum or Cossipore. At Howrah, the yards of Messrs, Soliague and M* Hardy have suffered severely, and several goods sheds have been unroofed. The railwaj»getties are, however, safe, and the ferry steamers have sustained but little damages. From the country districts the accounts were of the most distressing character, and the loss of life and destruction of property enormous. The Englishmen gives the foUowing statement of casualties ascertained by the r police to have occurred in the city on the night of the storm:—Men, 49; women, 48; children, 12 (total, 109); brick houses destroyed, 101; tiled huts, 2338.- Suburbs—Men, 103 ; women, 143; children, 39 (total, 285); brick houses, 62;' tiled huts, 1745; thatched huts, 25,148. River—Men, 618; woman, 1; children,' 3 (total, 632); ferry steamers sunk, 2; cargo boats sunk, 67; Madras sloopß sunk, .15; up-country boats sunk, 366; green boats sunk, 4; dinghees sunk, 84. Qf the up-country boats 159 sunk on the Goosery Sarids, and the along the river from the Baugh Bazaar to Hastings. In addition to the boats above enumerated, eighty-two country boats were sunk in the Circular Canal. The total loss of life reported is—Men, 770women, 192; children, 45 (total, 1016)/ Dp to the time of our going to press, the sum collected for the Cyclone Belief Fund amounted to Bs. 9875.