TORNADO AT PALMERSTON.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 25 June 1929, Page 5

TORNADO AT PALMERSTON.

OUTS PATH THROUGH TOWN. MANY DWELLINGS UNROOFED AND CHIMNEYS DEMOLISHED. Part of Palmerston North was swept by an extraordinary windstorm ut 3.25 o’clock yesterday afternoon, when it accomplished in its comparatively narrow track and in the brief space of a minute, damage that is- certain to run into thousands of pounds. At that time, heavy rain clouds were banked up to the south and west but a steady northerly was also blowing and an explanation of the occurrence is offered by the probability that these opposing conditions resulted in a pressure area in which the whirlwind was formed. A peculiar feature of the visitation was that the track of the tornado was nowhere more than ovo or three chains wide.

Many queer pranks were played by the gale, which was accompanied by a fall of hail, thunder and lightning, and many people had providential escapes from death or serious injury. The whirlwind came in two short gusts of equal intensity and had passed before anyone could realise what was happening. DESTRUCTION IN ITS WAKE.

Early m its course the cyclone tore half the roof from Mr A. Needham’s •two-storied house in Kairanga Road. .Then 1 on its errand of destruction it lifted the roof from SMr Ryan’s residence in Choi wood Street, Trees and IV ■cos were levelled everywhere in its track. The home of Mrs Steer in Shamrock Street suffered badly, the whole western roo,'£, rafters and all being -lifted bodily. In Burns Avenue, half of Mr G. M. Trott’s roof was carried 200 yards from the residence it originally sheltered and deposited in a tangled mass of iron and broken rafters on a vacant section. The chimney was wrecked. Curiously enough Mrs Trott, who was in the sheltered side of the house knew nothing of the damage until her attention was eallod to it by a neighbour. Tin- Hying iron tore down the telegraph wires in front of the house, and the whole mass of the iron and timber was swept over the Cop of M.r W. J. Coulter’s residence, whore many windows were broken. Adjoining the latter home was the framework of a. partially built residence on which the workmen were employed when, the tornado descended. The whole skeleton of this building was warped and twisted by the force of the gale and the foreman builder, Mr IV. S. Batten, who was working on the scaffolding, was blown to the ground. Flying iron and debris from Burns Street bombarded' the house of Mrs Myers at the corner of Lyndhurst and -Main Streets. The wall of a corrugated iron garage was pierced and when once the wind was admitted the garage was transformed into an airship ami sailed over the fence to be smashed fiat alongside the railway line. Great damage was done to the railway engine sited roof in Main Street. At the Showgrounds Staig Bros, wooden silodrome was damaged to the extent of £15(1, but a merry-go-round alongside, which could have been caught up like an umbrella, was not affected in any way.

South of tlio railway line the whirlwind wrenched the roof of Mr B. Tillett ’s house in Churc.h Street and demolished a chimney at Mrs C. T. Purcell's residence. A cowshed was wrecked at Mr Mardon’s and a chimney fell at Mrs Pyc’s. .Great damage was done in this neighbourhood to fences and outhouses. At Mr T. C. Benfell’s in Hereford Street a shed was lifted over the fence. Mr N. Wallace’s motorshed in Batt Street was, pulled off its foundation and the adjoining residence of Mr IT. 11. ThoiTmrn suffered severely, ,the tile roof being holed in many places, the garage completely v. rocked and the fences flattened. Chimneys were demolished at the houses of Messrs G. Watchorn and D. Diedrich, and a giant willow uprooted at the latter place. On the opposite side of the street, two young builders, R. Saxby and Albert Salt, were working on the construction of a house. The motor garage, in wood and iron, had been completed and the framework of the dwelling was complete when, in a second, the whole was levelled with the ground. Mr Salt, working in the shed, was buried among the debris and sustained injuries to his back. Mr Saxby’s escape, like that of many others, was providential, as he was standing on the leeward side of the house.

Every house in this vicinity suffered, damage being done to the premises of Messrs C. Short, J. Little, A. T. Pritchard, A, Bailey and W. Newth. The Girls’ High School caught the full force of the wind, tiles being lifted off the roof, windows smashed and trees uprooted. Several girls fainted, but there were no casualties. The whirlwind then passed across Ilokowhitu where many 40-year-old trees were uprooted. Considering the force and violence of the visitation, the fact that no lives were lost can only be considered as providential.

DAMAGE THOUSANDS OF POUNDS. BUSINESS CENTRE ESCAPES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) PALMERSTON N., This Day. The tornado which struck part of the town yesterday was unprecedented in fury and left destruction and ruin in its wake. Apparently it commenced somewhere beyond the Kairanga, and in the lower Aorangi a plantation was levelled. Reaching the western end of the borough the irresistible wind tore through home after home, levelling chimneys, snatching off roofs, tearing out windows, flattening outbuildings and garages. The Girls’ High School was so extensively damaged that school was postponed to-day. Pieces of tile blew through the windows like leaves, causing consternation.

The cyclone tore across the Manawatu river to Aokautere and up the Pahiatua track’ where the homestead of Mr W, 11. Bond received the full force, the woolshed being damaged beyond repair. No stock wen* killed, but the shoep yards were demolished and sheets of iron from the woolshed

carried'off into the hills. Thereafter the tornado vanished over the ranges. It was Hie most sensational experience of its nature in the town’s history and the damage runs into many thousands of pounds. It is impossible to estimate the exact number of homes affected. The business centre escaped. duo to the narrow track of the vi; itation.

HAVOC OF TOHNADO. A MIRACLE WERE NO CASUALTIES. (By Telegraph —Press Association.) PALMERSTON N., This Day. The weather still remains very stormy with rain at intervals. Many people whose dwellings weic affected by the cyclonic visitation spent an unenviable'night, as the rain which fell at intervals poured through gaping holes in the roofs. In one instance where the roof of a house was torn off lii people were compelled to evacuate the dwelling, finding shelter with neighbours. At one time a mother and four children all had a miraculous escape a- Hie roof disappeared from the homo ai;d the building shook under the terrific strain. A remarkable feature is that there are no casualties considering that the air was filled with flying pieces of iron and other debris. One building in the course of erection was demolished and another badly twisted. In some cases chimneys crashed through the roofs of houses, but luckily did not get through the ceiling, this also averting casualties, nevertheless the occupants had a most terrifying ordeal. Tiie homes resembled those affected in parts of the earthquake region, with holes in the roofs and damage to the general structure. One large poultry shed containing five hundred head of poultry was completely ruined, but not one bird killed. So many hornet; wore affected that it is impossible to individualise, each one in the path of the tornado suffering some damage.