ISLAND HURRICANES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13498, 27 May 1907, Page 5

ISLAND HURRICANES.

FUTUNA COMPLETELY

DEVASTATED.

CAPTAIN DAVIDSON'S NARRATIVE. News of a disastrous hurricane in a portion of the Fiji group, resulting in the complete devastation of the island of -Futuna, was brought to Sydney by the steamer South Australian, which returned to port on May 15 from a cruise of the South Seas. It appears (says the Sydney Morning Herald) that the tempest, which was one of the most severe for many years past, occurred on April 18, and remained at its height for about five hours. The officers of the South Australian describe the scene as one of great desolation, the entire island being strewn with debris. Fortunately there was no loss of life. : . - Captain Davidson, the commander of the South Australian., gave an interesting account of the disaster. ' "We sailed; from Wallis Island," he said, "on April 23, and on rearing Futuna at daylight- the island | looked as if it had been burnt all over, and i as the sun rose we could see that the place I had been swept by a- hurricane. Passing Alo we observed that the church there had been unroofed, and many,;' of the native houses had been blown down, while the cocoanut trees had all their branches and leaves twisted off ; there was' nothing left on them but bald green beads. On nearing Sigavi Bay we saw that the chapel on the hill was roofless and gutted, and upon landing we learned from Mr..Oppermah,;an old trader, that the island had been devastated by a hurricane, which occurred on the 18th (l?th Futuna time) April. "The wind first came away from the east-north-east, then f backed to the north and north-west, finishing up west to south-west. The lowest reading of Mr. Opperman's barometer was 28.32. The worst of the hurri- [ cane lasted five hoursfrom two p.m. to I seven p.m. Around Sigavi the ; native I houses have been nearly all levelled to the ground. Mr. Opperman has only his dwellinghouse left, and this he had secured with every rope, wire and chain he had on the place before the worst of the wind came. All of his other houses were blown down, and some of them carried out to sea. " " The' splendid large church built by the late Father, Trouillet (begun about 40 years ago, and the great work of his life) has been completely wrecked." Captain Davidson, continuing his statement, said: " The walls, built of square blocks of sandstone, have been levelled to the ground— left standing but the gable ends, and most part of the tower and steeple. It seemed almost incredible that the great 28in buttressed walls could have been demolished so completely by the force of the wind. The priest's and sisters' houses have also been unroofed, and the walls mostly demolished —in fact, the whole of their buildings are in ruins, as is the whole island. -i "Mr. Opperman, in all his long experience j in the South Pacific, had never seen so severe a hurricane. ; He said to me : ;'•■' We are smashed up now for the next five years, ' even if we don't get another visitation of ' the kind, and food will, be very scarce shortly.'" The South Australian arrived at Rotuma at daylight on April 26, and ; it was found that although there had been dirty weather, there on the 18th and 19th, with heavy sea, no. hurricane had been experienced..