THE 'WEATHER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10314, 5 April 1894, Page 6

THE 'WEATHER.

FLOODS IN HAWKE’S BAY. VESSELS ASHOEE. [Per Press Association.] NAPIEE, April 4< The weather is now fine. Eaporfcs are coining in from all parts of the country as to the great damage done by Sunday night’s storm. The settlers at Meanee, Papakura and the surrounding low-lying districts who suffered from the last floods will again suffer much hardship, as the crops that escaped the ravages of, the, December flood have now been destroyed. At''Meanee, owing to the breaks in the banks of the river last December not having been repaired, the place was flooded to a higher point than has ever been known before. The pleasure yachts in Fishermen’s Bay, ■with three ' exceptions, were either stranded, swamped or went to the bottom. At Hastings the storm left more water there than the great flood did, and a serious disaster was feared. Houses standing isolated on the flats seemed as if they would come down, so fierce and persistent was the gale. , ■ 1 ■ No official estimate of the damage to the has yet been made. Consider* ’ !tko-.Grecian.^Bend and the ketch Agnes •Martin, the a.si, Fanny has been despatched to make a thorouglrsearch along the coast ■for survivors’and wreckage. - 1 The. Grecian Bend .was not consigned to any Napier firm, but according to a Press Association telegram from Newcastle on March 14 she left Clarence Elver for Pott Chalmers. There can now be no doubt of her total loss, as large quantities of wreckago of all kinds, including cabin fittings, are going ashore atMohaka. There is little hope that any of the craw have got to land. Mr G. E. Eichardson has sent out a search steamer at his own expense, the Collector of Customs having failed to get authority to sand one on behalf of the Government. - ‘ . GISBOENB, April 4. The storm was severely felt here, and telegraphic communication was interrupted for two days. The gale blew with such violence that .trees all over the district were stripped of their branches and uprooted. The damage to farmers and local bodies by the storm will be considerable. Mr Sellars, of Napier, contractor for the western groin at the harbour works, will lose heayily; his engine and derrick, together with about 200 feat of trestle work, have been washed away. - ( The ketch Agnes .Martin, bound from Napier to.,Gisborne, lost her sails and anchors off Long Point, Mahia, yesterday, and was driven, ashore. The craw lauded safely. : - The Union coastal steamer Moa reached the bay at sis o’clock on Sunday, evening, after a rough passage from . Auckland. The tide being low, she was unable then to enter the river, and came to an anchorage in the roadstead. During the night the gale blew so furiously that Captain Braidwood weighed anchor and made in for the river. At the mouth of the river the flood current caught the stfeamar and threw her over on to a sand bank, where she lies hard and fast. The vessel is uninjured; But for the shelter of the breakwater, however, she would have been considerably damaged. Her deck cargo was discharged, and at high tide in the afternoon an attempt was made to float her off, but without success. It is hoped that when all the cargo is out she may be dragged off. WELLINGTON, April 4.

Captain Edwin reports that evidences indipate heavy easterly gales and rain to the Queensland coast; also, that a cyclone centre exists about six hundred miles to the north-west of North Gape, and should be near that part of the colony on April 6. A depression from the west will arrive south of Foveaux Strait on April 8.