TERRIFIED CAMPERS.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 4 February 1936, Page 7

TERRIFIED CAMPERS.

TENTS BURIED BENEATH HUGE TREES. (Special to “Chronicle”). PALMERSTON N., Last Night. Several parties of motorists at the Esplanade motor camp had probably the most terrifying experience of anybody on Sunday. Huddled in the recently erected cookhouse and shelter •pavilion, they watched huge macroearpas and pines come thundering down all around them, the tops of the trees reaching almost to their shelter as they struck the ground with terrifying force and noise. Hardly a tree has been left standing in this once picturesque site. It was feared that at any moment the roof of the pavilion would go sky high but fortunately it held otherwise their plight would have been a dangerous one. Tents which had been vacated were crushed beneath the trees and yesterday huge limbs had to be hacked away in order that possessions might be recovered and clothes and bedding dried. Another unfortunate aspect of the situation is that they are marooned in Palmerston owing to slips on the roads to the north preventing them from getting home. All assistance possible was rendered by the Automobile Association’s officer and caretaker of the grounds. The former had to shift portion of a tree to get into the camp and before he could get out again the road was blocked by another giant. The campers, many of whom were women and children, recounted their experiences smilingly to a reporter yesterday, making light of the terrifying experience through which they had passed. It is doubtful if the site will be useful as a camp again as all shelter has been levelled by the gale.