FELT THROUGHOUT THE NORTH ISLAND.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 17 December 1913, Page 4

FELT THROUGHOUT THE NORTH ISLAND.

The bad weather of the past week'■-■ or two culminated on Tuesday in a." violent gale from the north and west. Jwiy in the morning it was blowing hard, but it eased for a time, to come on with renewed and increased force during the afteroon and evening. The wind blew with half-hurricane force, and a good deal of damage of a minor ev? rf-?l ffaß'done- trees* fences and old buildings suffering. The rain was extremely heavy, the fall for 24 hours ended at 8 a.m. to-day being .1.21 inches. This morning ,the glasa /has gone ur, materially; but rain is still falling, and there is but little outward indication of the weather clearing. In New Plymouth the gale was felt severely. The Taranaki News says: pedestrians in the streets of New .Plymouth were most fluent and free in their description of the weather. 1 he. wind howled all day, and dust and sand assaulted, the faces and eyes of everyone unfortunate enough to beout. £ An elderly lady was actually blown off her feet. In the telephone exchange matters must have been somewhat hectic. Subscribers frantically endeavored to connect with the numbers they wanted, but the wires were all in contact, and almost the only response was a confused babel of voices. Exchange girls could be heard earnestly^asserting that^they could not j connect everyone at once, while the T lnß ?f the-, telephone bell continued incessantly. Beyond the breaking of a couple of windows in houses in an exposed position, no actual damage was done m the town, exoent to the tempers of telephone, subscribers, exchange officials,; and pedestrians. in the .country, suburbs, however, a good deal of damage was done. Gardens, suffered fences were blown over, windows were broken, and even, some trees were uprooted. Telegraph wires lying on the ground were frequently to be seen on the country roads. •*

The f telegraph poles and wires throughout a, large area of the North seem to Jbave suffered severely Wires were, reported to be cfown "all '", over the place," and it is said that in one district quite a number ■of tele- - graph poles fell. There was very "' ' 6enou6 iritefruptibn to the telegraph service. Gangs of linesmen were sent out from many centres, and it was not until midnight that *£he service began to approach normal conditions again. The worst break-is said to have occurred between Wanganui and Waverley. The gale interfered with shipping. The Rarawa was uiiabletb^ leave; New Plymouth for Onehunga, and ber departure was. postponed until this afterv .noon. The Corinna was bar-bound at ■ Onehunga. . v