CYCLONIC DISTURBANCE
A TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE NARROW ESCAPES FROM INJURY DAMAGE TO FARMS REPORTED (Special to Daily Times) AUCKLAND, February 3. An area of farm land in the vicinity of the Karapiro Dairy Factory, about six miles south of Cambridge, was struck by a cyelonic disturbance of exceptional severity at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Considerable damage was done to farms. Peals of thunder and flashes of lightning gave warning of the coming storm. Heavy black clouds gathered and terrific wind followed and became centred in the form of a whirlwind in Whitehall Road? Valley. Mr F. P. Ganley was in the fields when the whirlwind approached. He saw a haystack shaken by the force of the wind and its top was lifted and scattered about the paddock.. Mr Ganley tried to make his way towards the stack, but he was blown backwards.
The occupants of Mr J. W. Ganley's house were terror-stricken and expected the building to collapse'. The vails and roof of the garage were torn off and" the iron was carried a chain away. Branches of a large willow tree were torn off and on the opposite side of the road branches of a gigantic white wattle tree near Mr T. A. Frost's home were broken off. The branches weighed many tons and one crashed on to the washhouse, completely wrecking the building. Another branch scraped the side of the dwelling but did no damage -
A large pinus insignis tree on the farm was broken off at the base and a dozen other trees i had their branches torn off.
Sheet iron was wrenched from the haystacks in neighbouring farms and was carried some distance, while the implement shed on Mr J. Montgomery's farm was blown to pieces. The wind blew with hurricane ,force for half an hour and then rain fell in torrents. The' deluge was so heavy that it was impossible to see more than a dozen paces ahead. Hail as large as chestnuts, accompanied by rain, made a terrifying noise on the roofs of the houses. ■ ' ,
There were many narrow- escapes from injuries, but ho'stock was lost. Elderly settlers were at a loss for words to describe the phenomenon through which they had passed, but said the atmosphere was uncanny and they had never experienced anything like it before.
It is estimated that over three inches of rain fell within an hour. .
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19350204.2.69
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 22487, 4 February 1935, Page 10
Word Count
396CYCLONIC DISTURBANCE Otago Daily Times, Issue 22487, 4 February 1935, Page 10
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Daily Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.