VIOLENT GALES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 36, 11 January 1939, Page 6

VIOLENT GALES.

DISCOMFORT IN ESK VALLEY

Per Press Association. HASTINGS, Jan. JO.

Conditions in the Esk Valley, seven miles north of Napier, to-day resembled the notorious dust bowd of mid-west America, when violent gales swept into the air vast clouds of silt deposited in the disastrous April floods. Settlers were forced to retire indoors, sealing themselves within their houses with shut windows and crevices around the doors packed with sacks. Gusts of wind drove the fine, dry dust in choking clouds darkening the sky. Visibility became so poor that one settler drafting sheep had to abandon his work as be could not sec the animals. All work in the valley was stopped. It is probable that the grass and shrubs planted since the flood will have suffered, but it is believed that the cost of the damage and the losses are not great, though the work of restoring the pastures is set back. Conditions elsewhere in Hawke’s Bay were most unpleasant, a gale causing minor damage to fences, trees and aerial poles. All trawlers in the bay returned to port due to heavyseas. Orehardists report that shelter plantations protected fruit crops adequately, but some losses arc possible in stone fruits. The wind appeared to be dropping at an early hour to-night, but occasional strong gusts were still occurring.