"BATTLE OF TITANS."

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16116, 3 May 1923, Page 9

"BATTLE OF TITANS."

THE FIJI HURRICANE

AUTHOR'S GRAPHIC STORY

SUVA, April 11.—One of the most graphic and thrilling stories of the effects of a hurricane are told by Mr. Frank Burnett, the author, who happened to be at the Island of Munia, which was the very heart of the, recent hurricane which desolated several of the islands of the Lau or eastern group of the Fiji colony. Mr. Burnett says: "I have been through a pampero on the Rio Plata, cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, and on the Western Canadian prairies, but they are not in the same class in respect to all-round fury and destructiveness as when Koroibo, the Lau god of storms, gets busy in the Fijian group, judging by the sample of his powers as exhibited on the night of March 15, on the island of Munia." Mr. Burnett explains how the barometer gradually fell and the wind increased until the glass stood at 28.49 at 12.55 a.m., when tho wind was so strong that the people in the house could not hear each other speak. Tho glass kept falling until it reached 28.38, the lowest point reached. Then ensued a dead calm, during which not a leaf stirred. All hands took advantage of the lull to barricade the windows and the very vulnerable point—the vci'andah. Part of tho house was of wood and part of concrete. "The opening blast came down upon us without any warning. The lirst instalment was a. mere zephyr compared to what we were now to experience. If one brings to mind tho roar of a train entering a tunnel and magnifying it fifty times, it will convey a somewhat but indefinite idea of the awful turmoil that burst upon out ears, as- the wind, in appalling squalls, accompanied by torrents ot rain swept down upon the dwelling from over the hills. I write 'wind,' but it was in reality as if solid masses of atmosphere were hurled at us through space at irregular intervals. How anything stood the battering was a mystery. And the most remarkable feature of these squalls was that immediately they passed over a kind of vacuum was created in the near vicinity ■of tho building, with the result that large portions of the verandah were absolutely sucked outwards. Mr. Steinmetz (tho owner), was engaged in strengthening a section, when the opening blast of the second instalment struck the dwelling, and immediate!' tho full strength of the wind had abated, lie, together with that portion of the verandah ho was working at, was drawn, as if by an invisible hand, right clear out on to the lawn below. If the Archangel Gabriel had tooted his horn, lam sure not one of us would have been surprised. Tho elements, wind, rain, and lightning, simply ran riot, creating chaos, as if all hell had broken loose.; . '

"Large sections of the roof of the old house were continually being carried away to leeward, while the largo 4 by 4 storm props though wedged tightly. wore treated by blasts just as if they had been so many feathers. Before retiring to the concrete refuge, I went into a bedroom in tho wooden

house, and while there a frond of a coconut palm came hurtling through the roof like a gigantic arrow from a huge bow Needless to say, I did not stand on the order of my going, I simply vanished. Up to 2.30 a.m. the roar continued with unabated intensity, while in tho interval between the squalls, the (■'fishing of tbe buildings and trees could ti- beau; as they went down before the bluj's A Koroibo's breath. ' 't vas verily a battle of Titans."