IN THE PATH OF A WHIRLWIND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16570, 20 June 1917, Page 8

IN THE PATH OF A WHIRLWIND

The whirlwind which swept over Moturoai and the western suburbs of New Ply*h|? mouth shortly after ten o'clock on Saturn §£ day morning was observed from the iron* works for ten or fifteen minutes before iff ' i reached the land. It came between tha }■ Sugar Loaves and struck the Iron Com- /J pany's office and laboratory. Half tk<j -/ roof was torn off the office, and that on the laboratory was slightly wrenched. A v;| two-storeyed house which was occupied by Air. .A. H. Bensley is now a mere heap of broken wreckage. |J||

Mr. W. A. Bailey—Mrs. Bensley'sH brother—who saw the whirlwind approach* <3 I ing the house and hurried in that dir«- % tion, recounts that when, it struck the fit house the ground! floor was whirled into®; the air and the building landed roof downwards. When he arrived he was attracted by the cries of a boy, and discovered tha eight-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Bensley pinned underneath the wreckage. Other help quickly arrived, and the child -I wan extricated. It was found that his collarbpne was broken and that his head and left leg were cut in several places.:. 2 Mrs. Bensley. who was in the house with five youncr children, relates the story of# their marvellous escape. she was in ay bedroom on the ground floor engaged in S bathing her baby, which is only a few weeks old, when the house was struck. ;: The whole occurrence was so sudden and -I unexpected that Mrs. Eensley haß only ; a vascue knowledge' of what happened. As she lifted the baby out of the bath ■-? the house was struck; the table, chest of '■ drawers, baby's cot, looking-glass and other contents of the room were forced in a jumbled mass through the south j| wall, and Mrs. Bensley and the child were thrown after them. Miraculously they were thrown clear of the falling debris,t| and but for a few bruises were uninjured^'•!