EASTER CYCLONE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20086, 30 April 1927, Page 12

EASTER CYCLONE.

COASTAL NEW SOUTH WALES. SYDNEY’S WILDEST NIGHT. (Fsov Oub Owh Cobbespokdent.) SYDNEY, April 21. Sydney has just spent the moat miserable Eastertide of its history. For a week it has rained, and the winds have blown, for days on end. The oldest inhabitant has to search his memory to find on equal to the cyclonic storm that within the past seven days baa wrought hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage, has flooded wide areaS in the coastal strip of this State, has caused at least eight known fatalities, and has entirely spoilt this city’s great agricultural show and racing carnival. All this was the result of two disturbances, both of cyclonic force. Ihe first came from the north-east, and having drenched the coastal districts from the Queensland border southwards, spent itself by Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon was fine, but that night a storm from the south-east developed, hesitated sufficiently on Monday to entice thousands of people to thg show and the R-andwick races, and then burst decisively upon them as they were hurrying homewards. That was the start of a cyclone which raged incessantly for 36 hours or more. All Monday night the gale raged with a force of over 60 miles an hour, and did not slacken until Wednesday. During those two nights and a day, most of the damage w..s done. In every suburb of Sydney, and in the city. itself, many buildings wer e unroofed, blown down, or damaged. It was a proud man who could boast on Tuesay that tua residence had been rainproof, and windproof. Thousands of families spent the night mopping up pools of water or mending leakages in roofs. Those who were visiting the city had unenviable experiences in regaining thenhomes. The wind tore down electric tram and train wires, practically placing both systems out of commission. Telephonic communication was almost obliterated. , In many suburbs the electric light cables were torn down, and thousands of homes and streets were in utter darkness. Ferry services to Manly and other suburbs on the north side of the harbour were suspended, and residents had to find their way home in the best way they could, (Flayed by this cyclone, Sydney lived through a night of terror that it never wishes to see again. The gale took its toll of human life. At least six deaths were directly traceable to the fury of the storm on Monday night alone. In most cases the victims were either hit by flying debris, or came into contact with fallen live wires. In one instance, an old age pensioner became lost in the fierce storm, and wandering on to a railway line, was run down by a train. During the storm on Saturday a man was killed by a landslide near Newcastle. The saddest event was the drowning of a 10-year-old girl in the Tuggerah Lakes district, about 60 miles north of Sydney. She had left her home to walk tc a post office, and when she did not return, a search was made by residents. Late at night a bag she had been carrying was found eddying in flood waters, and next morning her body was discovered floating in a swollen creek.

Coastal rivers like the Hawkesbury, Hunter, and Shoalh'aven were swollen into huge, rushing torrents. Many thousands of acres of farm lands were flooded. Houses, sheds, and hayricks were washed away, and many cattle, pigs, and horses wore drowned. The breakdown of telegraphic communication has prevented full details of losses being known, even at this late stage of the week, but it will be impossible to calculate the damage wrought by this Easter gale, even when communications have been restored. In Sydney and suburbs alone it must run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, and that in country districts could easily bring; the total up to £500,000 It was a relieved Sydney indeed that was eventually assured by the State Meteorologist (Mr Mares) that the centre of the cyclone had moved from Sydney, and was proceeding towards New Zealand.

Steamers had a terrible time. Apart from the grounding of the passenger steamer Riverina at Gabo Island, dozens of vessels near the coast were in dire peril for days cm end. Rather than risk running for the entrance to Port Jackson, visibility being bad, several large steamers rode out the gale at sea. Passengers on the Makambo from Lord Howe Island came through the gale, and they swore that it was only the skill of the master who never left the bridge that brought them safely to port. So relieved were these passengers when at last the Makambo berthed that they lined up and cheered the captain, while several women broke ranks, rushed to him, and kissed him.