PROPERTY DAMAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22333, 3 February 1936, Page 10

PROPERTY DAMAGE

DWELLINGS AND SHOPS WIRES CUT BY ROOF IRON GLIDER CLUB'S HEAVY LOSS PLATE-GLASS WINDOWS BROKEN The full force of the gale was concentrated on the home of Mr. E. A. Sly, at 482 Mount Albert Road, Mount Roskill, where half the roof was torn off and the chimney swept away a few minutes later. Tremendous gusts of wind shook the house shortly before one o'clock yesterday afternoon, and Mr. Sly's son was telephoning his father to warn him that the house was in danger, when a fierce blast lifted half the roof and sent it flying through the air. The sheets of iron snapped power and telegraph lines, and finished in a paddock across the road, and 50yds. from the house. The chimney crashed down, a heap of bricks and concrete, while the roofing-iron was still spinning in the air. Part of the roof was also torn from the house of Mr. M. P. Hansen, at 24 Gladstone Road, Mount Albert. A large section, including iron, rafters and spouting, was lifted bodily and carried 50yds. down the street. Another part was swept on to the house next door, cutting a large hole in the roof.

New Home Demolished A house under construction in Nikau Road, Onehunga, was reduced to a confused heap of timber, i Flying sheets of iron and massive beams from a fence near the junction of Remuera Road and Broadway, Newmarket, damaged the front of Dr. M. G. Pezaro's home' at 8 Remuera Road. Windows were smashed, tiles dislodged from the roof, and a large concrete pillar supporting a porch was broken. Brickworks at New Lynn were damaged extensively. The clay-pit was flooded, and the louvres on the roofs of the drying-sheds were blown in all directions. In the same district, a brick wash-house was completely demolished, some of the rofing-iron being blown 60yds. across the Great North Road. A double garage in Totara Avenue collapsed, and a verandah at the corner of Rata Street and the main road was blown down. Part of the roof of St. Albans Church, Dominion Road, was torn off, and sheets of iron we're scattered. v Oarage Blown over Hedge

The strength of tho wind was demonstrated in startling fashion at Avondale, where a motor garage was lifted over a hedge, striking a house and falling to pieces. A sheet of iron from the roof flew through the air and cut telephone wires. The Auckland Gliding Club's hangar at Orakei was smashed by the storm and the two machines it housed, valued at £l5O, were damaged beyond repair. Tho gliders were reduced to useless scraps. Nearer tho centre of the city, there was less damage done to buildings, but several plate-glass windows were blown in. Four large windows at tho Auckland Gas Company's showrooms in Pitt Street were broken. Other firms which suffered loss through windows being damaged were Smith and Brown, Limited, in Symonds Street, and Campbell Motors, Limited, at 17 Rutland Street, City. Fences and Hoardings

Shop verandahs were blown down in many suburbs. In Grey Lynn, the verandah of the Four-Square Store on tho corner of Baildon Road was wrenched £rom its supports and forced back on the roof. Tho wind dealt in different style with tho verandah of Mr. F. Mcllveen's store at 142 Sandringham Road, which was dislodged and hung down over the footpath. Two shop verandahs in Ponsonby Road were also carried away by the wind, and in ane case tho display-window was blown in. Shop windows in Remuera were also broken.

Fences and hoardings in exposed positions offered little resistance to tho gale. Several lengths of a corrugated iron fence in Remuora Road near Newmarket wero carried across the street, and one struck a stout telegraph post, breaking it and bringing down a tauglo of wires. In Carlton Gore Road, about 40ft. of corrugated iron fence bordering the Domain was carried away, and portions of fencing outside Eden Park and tho Symonda Street reservoir wore broken down,.