FIERCE GALE IN ENGLAND

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6494, 14 April 1908, Page 8

FIERCE GALE IN ENGLAND

EXTENSIVE DAMAGE.

(From Our Special CorrcspondentA

LONDON, February 20,

Ono of the severest gales that have visited the Old Country wd-hin the memory of man burst over vno British Isles last Saturday, causing enormous damage to property on land, tho wrecking of scores of vessels—happily small craft mainly—and considerable loss of life ashore and afloat. They ; ‘do these things” on a far grander scalo in America, of course, but in parts of the United .Kingdom and Ireland tlie visitation was as good an imitation of a Yankee cyclone as ono ever desires to welcome to these shores. The force of the wind was irresistible, and in many districts lightning, thunder, hail, and rain, and almost total darkness, added to the terrors of the situation. Trains were blown off the railways, and only saved from serious disaster by the holding of tho couplings of the coaches or by the parapets of bridge- over which they were traveling; heavily-laden waggons And the horses drawing them were overturned; huge trees were uprooted or snapped off: roofs were carried away bodily, some of them to a considerable distance: tramenra on seaside routes wore overtopped by huge waves: the telegraph and telephone sendees were stopped by the fall of poles and wires; and in several places corn-stacks wore scattered over wide areas and hundreds of acres were flooded. In on© instance alone it is estimated that a loss of £20,090 wns caused by the destruction of tho Windlchurst mill, near Stockport, belonging to the Finecotton Spinners’ Association. The roof was blown off and the floors were destroyed by the falling masonry, the place being so completely wrecked that nothing but rebuilding can restore it* One hundred and thirty hands arc thrown out of employment. A feature of the damage drne was the very large number of churches which, suffered. Great chimney stacks wore blown down _ everywhere, crashing through their own rrofs and those of adjoining properties, and it was the fall of these and the carrying away of house-coverings of all kinds, slate, tile, and metal, that caused the death of many persons indoors and out. In some towns the resources of all tho hospitals and infirmaries were taxed to the utmost to attend to the patients who were brought in. and there is a large number of patients who are reported to b© in a serious condition.

London escaped the full fury of tho gale, but Birmingham, Hull, Manchester, and scores of other centres of population, suffered more or less severely. At Bradford a funeral procession was stopped by the violence of tho wind, the hearse being blown comphtelv over and wrecked and the coffin smashed- Tho Alexandra Theatre at Ashby-de-la-Zouch was blown down,; and at Skegness a girls’ home nearing completion was all but demolished, whilst from all parts of the country came stories of church steeples blown off At Peterborough, the solid' brickwork supports of the targets on the recently-completed rifle range "were razed to tho ground, and at Morecan) be tho seas were driven clean over the promenade, making a hug© breach in the heavy masonry of which it is constructed, and finally swamping the electric cables, so that when night came the town was in darkness. At Birmingham the stands at the St. Andre football ground were wrecked. About 50ft of the corrugated iron roof was torn off by ’ one terrific blast, and hurled into some vaste ground nearly a hundred yards away, whilst a great mass of wood and iron was hurled into the playing enclosure. Happily no one was injured, though there were hundreds, in the stands apd on the grounds waiting in tlie vain hop© that the storm would subside and allow the scheduled match to take place. 1 A similar accident with, unfortunately. mere serious consequences, oc-' currod at Lincoln, where a match was in progress. A portion of the stand was wrecked by the hurricane, and about thirty people were hurled into a field behind, including some members of tho city brass band. On© man, named Cooper, was very seriously injured, and cuts and contusions were suffered by many others. The?© are only samples of the havoc wrought by tho storm, which, at a very conservative estimate, did damage in the course of a few hours to tho tune.of hundreds of thousands of pounds.