FIERCE CYCLONE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22538, 1 October 1936, Page 8

FIERCE CYCLONE

I BUILDINGS WRECKED REMARKABLE HAILSTORM NEW SOUTH WALES AREA [from our own correspondent] SYDNEY, Sept. 24 : A fierce cyclone swept through the l§ Guyra district last week. Houses and 111 dairy buildings were wrecked and iifj crops were razed. Iwo people were || severely'injured at Goonengerry r hen P their house collapsed upon them. The school at Ewingsdalc was un- | roofed, while 50 children were at lessons. Torrents of rain drenched them. !|f! They were hurried to a near by resi- || dence for shelter. The children at jj; Goonengerry school became almost •j hysterical with fear and a boy rushed I out of the building. He was hurled to j| the ground by the wind before ho was j-!: dragged to safety. Injured by Hail jVlany people Avere severely cut and I bruised by huge hail. Falling trees | carried away telephone Ihies and inI! terrupted .electricity services, and I made roads impassable. The damage Ii caused by the cyclone, which swept through an area 15 miles in length !' and fi'mr miles wide, is estimated at fl thousands of pounds. The wind at I times reached a velocity of more than || 70 miles an hour. Mrs.- Alex. Ditton and her two-yenr- | ©ld 'son . had an amazing escape I from, death at Goonengerry. At the height of the storm their house collapsed npon them. Mrs. Ditton was & preparing the mid-day l( meal. She was bending over the stove on which a pot I of water was boiling. The stove was 1 lurled from its position and the boilI ing water was flung over her. The & four-roomed weatherboard and iron | building then crumpled. ] Rescued From Wreckage If Mrs. Ditton and her child were Ijp dragged from the wreckage by Mr. I Ditton and Mr. D. Do:uaghy, and were | later taken to the Mullumbiii\by Hos- | pital. Mrs. Ditton wa;;i suffering from I severe burns and shock, and the child I bad a broken leg. When the cyclone struck the Ewingsdale district 50 children were at their lessons. With a crash the roof was lifted and carried across the road. The headmaster, Mr. Mansfield, presented a pauic and hurried the children to the school residence. Two chimneys crashed on this house, but did S not penetrate the roof. A huge Moreton Bay fig tree beside the school was ■ Uprooted,' but fell clear of the build;j ing. The classroom wasi wrecked. Half a mile away Mrs, Martin Buckley was in her home with her j three children, including a baby in t arms. The house was unroofed and the chimney crashed down, showering the ; occupants with broken bricks and debris. They escaped, however, with , a se\-ere shaking. The Evringsdale i Church of England was blown five feet off the 'foundation blocks, and the vesi' 'j try was destroyed. Vessels on the altar were scattered in all directions. Fifteen Houses Urn-oofed

More than 15 houses in the path of the storm were unroofed, windows were smashed by the hail, and scores of sheds and outbuildings were demolished.* Hailstones title size of hen eggs caused many minor injuries. Men working on farms were badly bruised. Messrs. George Hodgson and Raymond ,Wiley sought shelter from 'the hail in a shed on Mr. Hodgson's property. No sooner had they entered the building that it was blown down, and they were buried iri the wreckage. Although they escaped injury from the flying iron, they were severely hurt by the pelting hail.

The storm left in its wake a trail of idesolate plantations and paddocks. Banana plantations were stripped of their fruit, and the treses were flattened. Plantation owners estimate that their losses will amount to between £2OO and £4OO each. Passion fruit crops were destroyed. Grass in paddocks was cropped as if it had been freshly mown. Hillsides resembled snowfield's, and at a 1 ate hour at night the hail was still a foot deep in eome parts.