STORMS AT SYDNEY.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1867, 11 March 1913, Page 5

STORMS AT SYDNEY.

TERRIBLE DISASTER. HOUSES AND STREETS WRECKED. Preeu Aesn—By Telegraph—Copyright Sydney, March 10. The storm which visited Sydney on Saturday was one of the worst on record and the metropolitan area had the misfortune to be the centre. From a moderate north-easterly the gale developed hurricane force for a couple of hours, accompanied by deafening thunder, vivid lightning and a deluge of rain. Altogether rain fell for 28% hours in the city and 7.59 inches were registered. The ferry services were discontinued. Moored vessels and smaller craft had a rough handling. There was a peculiar fatality a t Waterloo. An electric wire broke and in falling curled round the neck of a man named Clifford, who was electrocuted.

The damage all round the citv, particularly in the western suburbs, is very severe. Streets were torn up, gardens destroyed, trees uprooted, fences and outhouses washed away and houses flooded.

Portions of houses along Cook's river were iovaded and the inmates had an exciting time, taking refuge on tables and roofs. A man swam the river for a quarter of a mile, secured a boat and rescued twenty-two men, women and children. In several cases the flood was too high to enter the doorways and the iron roofs had to be removed before the inmates could be rescued from their perilous position. At Homebush the roof of a house, occupied by Cameron, secretary to the Civil Ambulance, his wife and four children collapsed. The wife was pinned by a beam to the bed, but was rescued uninjured Two sons received severe scalp wounds.

The troops at Liverpool were flooded out and the whole camp is under water.

At Campbelltown the floods caused serious damage to houses and shops and many live stock perished. At Newcastle there was also a heavy storm and flood. Ten draught horses belonging to the Australian Agricultural Company were being driven in the street when an electric light wire broke and fell on the animals. All were killed. A man named O'Donnell fell into a< storm water channel and was drowned. Another man named Worthington was drowned while crossing a flooded creek.

At Clifton the Imperial Hotel roof was carried a hundied yards when it dropped on and wrecked another building. Other buildings were unroofed and damaged. There were a number of railway washaways and trains are held up. The steamer Queensland, from Melbourne, to Newcastle, is anchored oif Wilson's Promontory. She has broken down and has asked for immediate assistance.

Several coasting vessels are overdue. It supposed they are shelter ing. Those arriving had a rough handling. Brookvale reports that most of the parts of a ship's derrick are sticking out of the water on the long reef near Manly. Investigation of a possible disaster will be made at daylight.

LATER DETAILS. HAIRBREADTH ESCAPES. Received 10.40 p. m. Sydney, Last Night. Many city and suburban shops and warehouses suffered severely from storm-water percolating the roofs and inundating the basements. The theatres were emptied in the middle of the deluge and an unusual sight was presented. Richly-dressed women denuding the,ir shoes and stockings waded the flooded street to reach their trams. At Bondi the dammed flood waters swept through lower bedrooms, where a man and several waitresses were sleeping. The man escaped and the women took refuge on the heavier pieces of furniture, which were carried away in the rush of water, which was several feet deep. One woman climbed a verandah and the others were rescued with difficulty. Manly fared badly. The roads are torn and many houses are damaged by the force of the water. At Manly Yale the houses were deeply inundated and furniture was floating in the rooms. Poultry farmers suffered great losses. A man named Waters was washed out of a motor boat moored to a wharf and drowned. The sea was so rough that would-be rescuers were unable to reach hins.

At Sylvania on Saint George's River, four girls had a sensational escape. Their house was unroofed and the debris smashed the beds whereon the sleeping girls were lying. But they were practically unhurt.

In the lowlands round Marrickville, along Cook's River, scattered furniture and household belongings were swept from the houses and poultry, cats, dog-v and a number of horses were drowned. The roof of a house at Como was lifted bodily, carried half a mile, and deposited in a river. At Annandale a couple were penned in their house by floodwater. The nusband escaped out through a window, carrying his sick wife. When the roof of the Imperial Hotel, Clifton, was carried to an adjoining building, where a woman and infant were sleeping the ceiling collapsed except just ovor the bed. They lay still till they were rescued. Guests" in the hotel were smothered with an avalanche of plaster and broken glass, but none were injured. Two left their bedrooms just before the tornado struck the hotel. Returning upstairs they found that a chimney stark had fallen and smashed to atoms (he beds whereon under ordinary circumstances they would have been sleeping. In a second house the hotel roof struck where a man, woman and child were sleeping. The weight of the debris jammed the doors and great difficulty was experienced in escaping. The danger was increased by falling wreckage. At the height of the gale at Sydney the wind attained a velocity of 66 miles per hour. For a few minutes after midnight, rain fell at the rate of nine hundred points "per hour. After anchoring till morning the steamer Queensland resumed her voyage to Newcastle.