TRAIL OF DAMAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21859, 23 July 1934, Page 8

TRAIL OF DAMAGE

WHFKLWIND IN NORTH . BUILDINGS BLOWN DOWN NATIVE BUSH SUFFERS MAORI SETTLEMENT STRUCK [by telegraph —own correspondent] KAITAIA, Saturday Severe damage was caused by a whirlwind which struck Ahipara, at the southern end of Ninety-Mile Beach, last evening. Fortunately the track of the whirlwind was narrow, being about C»oft. wide, and it did not travel very far. However, it left a trail of wrecked buildings and flattened bush in its wake.

Travelling from a south-easterly direction, the whirlwind first struck the Ahipara native school and a shed, over ,20ft. long and 10ft. wide, was completely demolished. This shed waj4 used as a schoolroom, which accommodated 30 pupils, and with the main school building, was about half-a-mile from the beach. The walls and roof were blown in all directions, some parts being found a-quarter of a mile away. All that is left are the desks, standing in orderly array on the floor. The residence of the head teacher, Mr. P. Braik, near by, was not damaged, but the main school building was severely shaken and the roof is leaking in a number of places. Behind the shed was seme native bush and practically all this was either uprooted or splintered close to the ground, trees up to 18in. in diameter being smashed and blown down.

The whirlwind demolished trees in its path until it reachd the Ahipara Maori settlement, where a meetinghouse, used as a dining hall, a wooden building about 40ft. by 20ft., with a shingle roof, was blown down. A fv\ftroomed house near by was also razed to the ground. Another cottage was forced over to an angle of about 20 degrees. An area of bush behind the settlement suffered considerably, some trees being broken and others uprooted. A number of the trees, some of them 30ft, high, appeared to have been twisted off at the base of their trunks. 4 ,

Notification of the demolition of the school" shed has been forwarded by Mr. Braik to the Education Department, which has had . under consideration alterations and additions to the Ahipara School. In the meantime, all the children will have to be crowded into the main building. A gale, accompanied by heavy rain, was experienced in most parts of the Far North and rivers and creeks are running bank-high. No flooding is reported.