A TORNADO IN CANTERBURY.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 19, Issue 99, 15 December 1908, Page 5

A TORNADO IN CANTERBURY.

extensive damage. Christchurch, Last Night. Shortly before mid-day the attention of the residents of the district for a number of miles round the old Wincbmore homestead was directed to what appeared in the distance to be a monster whirlwind, or a waterspout, which was travelling rapidly down the north branch of the Ashburton River, in a north-easterly direction. Several terrific claps of tender preceded by lightning that was unusually vivid oooutred, and a few minutes after this hail as large as ducks’ eggs began to fall over a strip of country probably a mile and a half in width. The cyclone, for such it must be termed, had now reached Winchmore; and straw stacks, trees, vegetation, and buildings that lay in its track, which was about three-quarters of a mile in width, were blown over, and in many oases bodily removed in all conceivable directions. An implement shed, belonging to Mr Thomas Addis, ■ measuring 18 by 50 feet, that was attached to a large stable, was wrenched from the! main 'building and the force of the wind literally rent it in fragments. galvanised iron roof was twisted into all sorts of shapes, and the sheets, with the woodwork, 1 were scattered over paddocks within a radius of 60 chains. Mr Addis had also the panes of six large windows on the west side of his dwelling house completely smashed in. A double chimney was blown over, and the iron on .the stables and other buildings was more or less twisted and damaged. Exclusive of damage to growing crops, Mr Addifc estimates his loss at about m. An Adjoining neighbour, Mr Alfred Curtis, fated even worse. Mr Curtis' residence, which is about ten chains distant from Mr Addis’, appeared to have come in the direct path of the cyclone. The roofs of sheds, 80 by 16 and 15 by 12 feet respectively, and a wash-house 12 by 12 feet, were lifted bodily up and carried to a great distance. The broken wreckage of woodwork and iron was scattered promiscuously over several adjoining paddocks. A double chimney in a dwelling'house was blown bodily over and all the windows on the north--west side were smashed to atoms, while a horse that was blown forcibly . against a barbed Wire fence was badly * ripped. Apart from the damage to crops, Mr Curtis’ loss will exceed £6O. Several farmers through whose property the cyclone travelled state that (heir crops have been damaged to the extent of about 20 per cent. The heads of corn have been in many cases cat completely off, while the hailstones have also been responsible for breaking down a large proportion of the stalks. It is difficult to state at present anything like the full extent of the damage caused, or what distance the cyclone travelled, but from observations made it is safe to assume that tfie storm, which lasted about a quarter of an hour, spent its greatest |oice on the farms of those mentioned.