FURIOUS GALE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17274, 15 September 1916, Page 5

FURIOUS GALE.

WELLINGTON'S EXPERIENCE. WIND ATTAINS VELOCITY OF 125 MILES AN HOUR. HARBOUR SERVICE DISORGANISED. DAMAGE IN CITY. [FnOM OIJB COEBKSPONTDENT.] WELLINGTON, September 14. Windy Wellington justified its reputation last night. Though to-day is calm and sunny, yesterday was boisterous some gusts recorded by the ofservation station at the harbour level reaching sixty-five miles an hour. At the wireless station on a lofty hill overlooking the city there were some, tremendous gusts", the maximum recorded being 125 miles an hour, which Is equal to a pressure' of 451 b per scpiare foot. Other gusts wero at the rate of 110 miles an hour, while ninety miles was often recorded during the day and night. Many reports hove been received of windows blown bodily in, the Solfliers' Hotel at Newtown losing two French windows in this way, while a :ity draper's plate glass collapsed into fragments under the sudden strain of a northerly gust. Suburban fences suffered badly. Some chimneys also were involved in the ruin, one double chimney falling through a bathroom. The fierce gusts eventually made the cross-harbour ferry service impossible. The harbour was lashed to foam and every now and then a gust would raise huge iheets of spray, flooding the ferry vesgels. The sea and wind wore too much for the ferry boats, and some trips were abandoned. The Cobar. which loft Wellington at 4.15 p.m.. managed to land her Rona Bay passengers. She then proceeded to Day's Bay. but was not able to reach the wharf. Return was made to Rona Bay, but by this time the wind had increased so much that she was not able to get alongside, and she had to return to town. Tart of a seaside cottage at Rona Bay wns torn away and blown 150 •ards downhill, leaving the chimnev ■md tho remainder of the house «gThe eale en used •» good deal of trou- *• t» the telegraph lines.