ENORMOUS HAVOC.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 109, 8 April 1936, Page 9

ENORMOUS HAVOC.

TORNADO STRIKES CITIES. AMERICA AGAIN HARASSED. NEW YORK, April G. A tornado, one of a series of storms which, for several days have harassed six southern States, to-day, struck three cities with great force, leaving behind it many dead. Gainesville (Georgia), Tupelo (Mississippi), and Columbia (Temiesse) were the hardest hit although numerous other towns suffered badly. The storm not only tossed about vehicles and smaller buildings, but sheared off the tops of modern steel and brick structures, cutting a swath of considerable depth through State alter State, and leaving wreckage and dead 1 in a tangled mass. Gainesville alone suffered property damage estimated 5,000,000 dollars, and was reported to be burning. The destruction at Tupelo was enormous, and the known dead there are already in excess of 100. Alabama, Arkansas, and South Carolina are among other States afiected by the storm. The storm did its damage within three minutes at Gainesville when the streets were crowded with people going to work in the morning. Buildings housing most o fthe fire-fighting apparatus were demolished, and when fires broke out all over the wrecked areas of the'city the firemen’s only weapon was dynamite. Over 1000 persons were injured at Tupelo, where the tornado struck late last night. The city might have been consumed by tire as numerous conflagrations occurred immediately. Fortunately, however, a torrential cmwnpour followed, adding to the difficulty of rescue work but putting, out- the fires. A section of the city two and alialf miles long by nearly half a mile wide was wiped out and 2000 persons are homeless. Soup kitchens manned by the Civilian Conservation Corps have been established, and supply trains from various larger centres of the Stfite, manned by troops and carrying nhysicians and nurses, have arrived. Late to-night the dead totalled 300 and injured getiqeen 1500 and 2000. The damage will exceed 5,000,000 ■ dollars. .' Freak weather punished many parts of the country to-day. The temperature was 109 degrees at Catarina (Texas), and 15 degrees below zerq lit Parsliall (North Dakota) Snow covered much .of the west while gales pounded the Atlantic - and' Pacific coasts. Further floods occurred along the Ohio River. .