INTENSE STORMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22027, 6 February 1935, Page 8

INTENSE STORMS

HEAT WAVES AND HAIL ■* :>y DAMAGE IN AUSTRALIA CYCLONE AND DROUGHT Considerable damage was done by cvclonic storms in scattered parts of Queensland on the night of January 29. At Yandina, on the north coast, huge jagged pieces of ice fell, which damaged banana plantations extensively. Two houses were partly wrecked in the Dalby district, and residents were forced to rush for shelter, as roofs were torn off by the wind. Ijarge trees were snapped in half. Two inches of rain fell. At Theebine, in the Gympie district, a large tree fell across the main telephone wires to the north, disorganising the service. Mossman, in North Queensland, experienced a fall of six inches of rain, while at Piitsworth, on the Darling Downs, jive inches fell in a very short time. At Murgon considerable damage to property was reported. A house had its roof torn off, and a large grain shed in the railway yards was damaged extensively. Tie railway lines were littered with woodwork and sheets of iron, which had to be cleared away to allow trains to pass. A partly-erected clubhouse of i;he Murgon Golf Club was levelled. At Wondai a storm, accompanied by a cyclonic wind, unroofed the stationmaster's house and the grain shed. A severe sliorm occurred in Brisbane where over an inch of rain fell in about 20 minutes. Hail also fell. Intense heat prevailed at Charleville. The temperature last Wednesday ranged from 110 to 112 degrees. Creeks which previously were never known to be dry are now empty. One station has to cart water four miles for use at the homestead. At another station bees invaded all rooms searching for water, and the occupants, who tried to drive them out, ivere severely Btung. One station was Mending 9000 sheep to New South Wales. Hail up to eight inches in circumference fell in different parts of the middle and lower Clarence districts in I New South Wales last week. At Lawrence, where the hail attained its bigi gest size, it fell in jagged pieces. Brush--1 grove also received big hail. The post- ! master said that one piece measured ! five inches in circumference. The hail i -was brittle, and shattered into pieces I when it struck roofs, i The centra of the storm was at Wood- ■ ford Dale, ivhere the hail was as big ' as cups. People who have been there for 40 year? state that they had never , seen anything like it. The ground was ! covered by the fall.