A REMARKABLE PHENOMENON

Otago Witness, Issue 3806, 22 February 1927, Page 67

A REMARKABLE PHENOMENON

WATER SPOUT IN EAST TUMAKI. AUCKLAND, February 16. The storm which swept Auckland last night ceased with dramatic suddenness. Shortly after the delug started a waterspout was experienced in the East Tamaki district. Like the tail of an animal it extended from a dark storm cloud, incongruous but menacing, tapering gradually as it approached the earth. It appeared to drag behind the cloud, and motorists who witnessed the phenomenon while driving from Wiri to Manurewa said it was ceaselessly revolving. Mr J. J. Trible saw the waterspout moving steadily over the farm of Mr F. Waters, at East Tamaki. From ita path it removed a small outbuilding as if it were a piece of straw. It uprooted a portion of a hedge, and then came a most .striking sight. The waterspout passed over a windmill and tank, and suddenly the water in the tank was drawn! ( upwards to a height of about 100 ft. In* the dusk and the intermittent glare o£ the lightning it looked almost like a geyser in action. The waterspout was also noticed by passengers in a southbound suburban train. Three were seen apparently at a distance of about three miles, but one waa much larger than the others. Then, as the passengers watched spellbound, the huge column of cloud appeared to break in two, and almost before their eyes dissolve into a heavy shower of rain.