A SENSATIONAL HAILSTORM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8417, 17 January 1899, Page 3

A SENSATIONAL HAILSTORM.

The night of Monday, January 9, 1599, will nob soon be forgotten by Uie residents of North-east Valley, says the Duucdin Star. Shortly after half-past eight rain came on, and by nine o'clock a severe storm of rain and hail, accompanied by vivid flashes of lightning and loud puals of thunder. The rain quickly gave place to hail of most unusual dimensions, and for over an hour such a storm raged us had never before been experienced by the oldest inhabitants. So continuous was the downpour ihat road channels and houseroot gutters were speedily blocked, and the water overflowed in all directions, In Normanby most of the houses were Hooded, some having several inches of water in them. One of the most noticeable features ot the storm was the size uf the hailstones. In the town end of the Valley the hail was large, but further out it was more of the nature of regularly-shaped lumps, of ice, which tore through the fruit trees, strippiny them of fruit and foliage, smashing to the ground flowers, plants, and vegetables, and working havoc in the greenhouses, vineries, tomato-houses, and everywhere where glass was exposed. The ground was covered to a depth of from four to five inches of hail this morning, and even the strong sun of mid-day did not melt it all, or nearly all, from the hill-side and the valley. At noon to-day out towards Normanby the main road was in part covered with hail, whilst on the house roofs and in the gardens it was lying thick and white. Even at mid-day there was no dilficulty in picking up haudsful of hailstones measuring over an inch in diameter. The storm water fftiily took ehavge of the borough, and, rushing down the steep streets on the Signal Hill, side, cleared them of metal, and flooded the main road to a depth of several feet in some places. The most extensivo damage was worked at Mr H. M. West's nursery. What was yesterday a flourishing, well-stocked, and well-kept nursery is to-day a scet.e of desolation. The glass houses in which Mr '.Vest, had largo stocks of pelargoniums, begonias, and other delicate flowering and foliage plants fared very badly. On the exposed aide of the houses hardly a pane of | glass was left, whilst the unfortunate plants beneath were battered to the earth and stripped of their foliage. This was bad enough, but it waß outside Mr West was the greatest sufferer. His nursery is famed for its cope heaths, and he had upwards of 2000 of these in pots ready for the coming season. Almost without exception they were destroyed. The fruit trees present a woe-begone appearance. Denuded of their leaves, with broken branches, they stand a mere apology of the healthy trees they were yesterday. The youui? trees suffered very much, one lot of 1500 freshly grafted apples and pears being all destroyed. Mr West estimates his loss at over £300, and it is certainly not an over-estimation. Some idea of the force and size of the hail may be gathered from the fact that the cover of an express at Mr West's was simply riddled. The fruit crops in Normanby and Hawthorne are almost all gone. To see the green, hard apples hacked about as if someone had cut them with a knife, is sufficient to make the most sceptical astonished. Vegetable crops present a ludicrous appearance. Potato patches might be onion beds for all the guide their appearance is, and peas, beans, cabbages, an other vegetables have likewise been destroyed in a wholesale manner. Everybody has a garden out in the Valley, and consequently everybody in the storm area is a loser to a greater or lets extent by lust night's visitation. In most of the gardens currants, gooseberries, and plums can be raked off the ground by the bushel, but as for picking them — well, the crop at present runs about one pound to five trees. Many of the gardens on the slope had not only the fruit ruined, but the rush of water also took away all the soil.