WHIRLWIND AT SEATOUN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18334, 26 February 1923, Page 8

WHIRLWIND AT SEATOUN.

ALARMING EXPERIENCE.

UNUSUAL SCENE IN HARBOUR.

;. Residents of Seatoun, Wellington, had an amazing experience a few minutes after eight o'clock on Thursday morning. The wind had been blowing" fairly hard from the north, and five minutes past the hour it developed into a gale. Suddenly, and with remarkable speedy it changed from north to south, creating a whirlwind, which struck the residential part of the local stores, belonging to Mr. H. J. Wyatt, with considerable violence.

The impact of the wind drove a large glass out of the frame, this striking the mantelpiece and smashing into a thousand pieces, one fragment embedding itself in an oak table. Mr. and- Mrs. Wyatt were leaving the kitchen at the time, and Mr. Wyatt thought the roof was coming off, but, on hearing the crash, he looked in the front room and found it littered with glass. Luckily no one was in the room at the time. ' :• People who were going down Church Street at the time had. to lie down on the footway to avoid being lifted off their feet, and remained in that position for at least half-a-minute. The violent change in the wind also caused., a. return wave, and. those who were bathing had the experience of witnessing a wall of water four or five feet high as the two currents met. Residents say they have never had such an experience before. -