DISASTROUS CYCLONE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18367, 9 April 1934, Page 7

DISASTROUS CYCLONE

RAILWAYS SUSPENDED WEST AUSTRALIAN LOSS PERTH, April 8. Details of the cyclone on the northwest coast sfiow that iron telegraph poles bent like, candles. The damage at Onslow is estimated at £BO,OOO, mostly through the - destruction of a jetty, 900 ft. of which toppled into the sea. Port Hedland reports • that the railway service is now- suspended to Marble Bar. Supplies are running short. -

The Port Hedland landing .ground is under water and aeroplanes are-held, up at Broome. -

BUILDINGS RAZED 100-MILE-AN-HOUR WIND PERTH, April J. Additional .reports of, the destruction. caused by , the .willy-willy at Onslow on Wednesday show ’that not one'of the buildings in the (township escaped damage. Three-quarters of them were seriously- damaged by the storm, and half of these were razed. The two-storey Beadon hotel, built of reinforced concrete bricks',"lost Its 'top storey, and the bottom floor as a mass of debris. The only portion not damaged is the bar. ' The loss is estimated at £SOOO. 'The tide rose quickly and washed Through some houses. Seen from the air, Onslow.Jooks as if it had been bombarded. The wind at first blew at 60 miles an hour. Twenty miles of telegraph, lines, were blown down, cutting off - communication. The wind increased in force until between 11 a.fn. and 1 p.m. it blewat between 90 ftfid 100 miles an hour. The residents, who had plenty of warning, sheltered in the post-office arid other strorig buildings. An eye-witness, said the post-office rocked .like C.ship, at sea. The storm blew (pieces of Iron about like paper. Bricks and pieces of the avails were, tossed about like balls. Furniture was blown out of rooms into the streets.-- A--5000; gallon tank was lifted into the air. It smashed the roof of a house,.,but. xifcxt day could not be found within 10 miles of the town!

St. Peter’s Anglican Church is standing at an angle. The Shell Company ’s petrol depot, a strong iron building, avas unroofed: The Mechanics’ Hall, valued at £IOOO, was flattened. 'Clark and Company’s store was wrecked, and only books in the iron safe were saved. .The damage to this building is estimated at £IOOO. A school teacher, Mr B. J. Dwyer, had a wardrobe 'blown into the street. Pieces of it were found later, but there was no sign of the clothes it had contained. Mrs Kettipton and her four hildren had just left their home when ii was blown away. ' Mr Ste Wart, 'a telegraph linesman, who Ivas Working 20 miles. .from Onslow, saw his horse and cart whirled into the river. He walked through water up to the wai£t to reach town. The journey occupied 16 hours, and at times he-had to drag himself along the ground, so strong was-the wind. All reads are washed away, and The town in isolated by floods. Hundreds of sheep have been drowned. The town has only' three weeks’ supply of food and stores cannot, he landed owing to the damage to the jetty, Until a lighter L provided. The Minderoo, which called on Thursday, landed a small quantity of fruit in a surf boat. Six homeless families are being cared for by other more fortunate residents. No life was lost.