FLORIDA HURRICANE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19902, 23 September 1926, Page 9

FLORIDA HURRICANE

TALES OF DESTRUCTION. LATEST ESTIMATE OF DEATHS THOUSANDS HOMELESS. (Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright.) NEW YORK, September 21. News from Miami states that it is estimated that there are 400 dead, 5000 injured, and fifty missing as the result of the hurricane, which devastated an area of 69 miles along the east coast. News from New Orleans states that a tropical storm severed communication between Mobile and the outside world on Monday. Meagre reports indicate that there was no loss of life at Mobile, where extensive preparations were made for the storm as a result of a forecast by the Weather Bureau. Nevertheless, a survey made today, after a nineteen-hour battle with the hurricane, reveals damage to property estimated at several bunded thousands of dollars, chiefly as a result of unroofed structures and water damage. Reports from Birmingham (Alabama) state that there was heavy damage to property and probable loss of life through the storm. The first word received from Pensacola (Florida) since communication was severed yesterday reports that the docks and railway buildings are in ruins. A message from Grand Turk Island (Bahamas) states that 4000 people are homeless, and immense damage to property was caused in Turks and Caicos Islands as a result of the hurricane. —A. and N.Z. Cable. BAHAMA ISLANDS DEVASTATED. NEW YORK, September 21. (Received Sept. 22, at 5.5 p.m.) The island of Bimfi, in the Bahamas, 130 miles from Nassau, was devastated by the hurricane of last week, according to reports reaching Miami, which are confirmed by the crews of tug boats that arrived on Tuesday from that vicinity. They said they did not attempt to land to seek for the dead and injured.—A. and N.Z. Cable.