TERRIFIC CYCLONE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 72, 12 March 1903, Page 3

TERRIFIC CYCLONE.

m pbxbs Afiaoouno*. Totistoli, March 11. f The T* oik Moltki>, with 600 tons of co«], has disappeared, and is supposed to have foundered at her mooring?. The harbour works sustained no damage. The <s*imated damage to the town is £200,000. One diien persons received hrokan limbs, and many were cut by flying iron. The scene from Stanton Hill was fa one not easily forgotten. Sheets of iron and other material were blown acaoss the town like paper. The rattle and roar were deafening. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Woo'shede were seriously damaged. The barometer fell rapidly on Monday morning. At 11 o'clock it was blowing % &ale, which increased at noon to a hurricane. This continued till 1 o'clock, and then the barometer dropped fur-. ther, and the wind swooped round to the south-east with terrific force. The barometer's reading at 2.15 p.m. was 28.58. By 1 o'clock the gale gradually abated. Hundreds of private residences are levelled to the ground. Two additional persons have been Lutd dead under the debris of private dwellings. , The steamers Wodonga and Bateoa 1 were both driven ashore on a mud bottom. A number of small craft were i driven ashore. | The mtdicil superintendent, fearing the des'ruction of the hospital, ordered the removal of the typhoid patients from the top storey. Bhortly afterwards the roof %as blown away, and when the gale was at its fiercest, the brick wall collapsed, buring the patients on the ground floor. In addition to the killed mentioned yesterday, nurse Grant had a leg broken and her skull fractured A boy named Hetheringtou was extricated from the ruins with an arm hanging by a shred. Hopkins, a patient, had both legs brokea. All the outbuildings are levelled, and the damage to the hospital is estimated at £6OOO. About one hundred persons are hometees in town. An old man named O'Donohoa was buried with his wife and son in the debris of bis house. It is believed that the man's cass is hopeless. Mrs. Ourrie and ber grandson were found pinned in the debris of her house. The woman was dead but the boy was uninjured. He< said that hia grandmother was not killed outright and that she asked him to try to lift a piece of timber that was crushing her. He found he could not do so and tbe old lady replied " I am afraid I am going. Good-bye." A man named Thomson was struck by a piece of flying iron and killed. These were all the fatalities outside tbe hospital affair.

D JIT AILS OF DAMAGKB. BDB .GBIPTION LIBTB STARTED. Beceived 11, 10.43 p.m. Towksvhas, March 11. With the exceptii n of the central ' part of Flinders Street the whole town! has 6nfFered great damage everywhere.' The town water supply is cut off,! owing' to the pumping station being I wrecked. ' The Grammar School was unroofed,' and all the other school* damaged, ( The Botanical Gardens were devastated. | The Barratta, after her return, while I conveying passengers was washed on i the rocks and sank, but all I Tbe steamer Palmer was badly damaged. The steamer Woion-'a,, which waa driven ashore daring the cyclonp, has been refloated. Subscription lists have been opened for the sufferers. The amount of damage outside the district is not yet known, bat alone t l e, Bohle Sirer many selectors suffered severely. Received 11. 11.98 p.m Towhsville, March 11. A wing of the prison at Stewart's Greek was partially unroofed and much .damaged. The prissners were safely j removed. j The Titles Office was unroofed and the S-amps Office devastated, and private residences were demolished. Mr Bowen reports that the cyclone was accompanied by heavy rain. It struck the town early on -Monday morning, and lasted several hours. Many buildings were badly damaged. The railway hooking office, goods and locomotive eheds, five leading hotels, and Holy Trinity Church, Sunday School and Vicarage were unroofed and otber--wise damaged. The Presbyterian Sunday School was blown over and the church unroofed. The Roman Oatbolic Church was damaged. The Customs and Court houses were partially unroofed si* feet over the j«tty. The drill shed and Burns and Philps' bulk stores were wrecked. The municipal baths were washed away, the police station, stockage, and stables demolished and the district generally devastated. The orange crop is ruined. No lives were lost, but there were several slight accidents.