TERRIBLE TORNADO

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 315, 3 July 1912, Page 5

TERRIBLE TORNADO

DESTROYS CANADIAN CITY. MANY LIVES LOST. A MILLION POUNDS DAMAGE. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Ottawa, July 1. Regina city has been involved in a great catastrophe. A tornado struck the place, levelled several hundred buildings, and killed fifty persons. Communication has been cut off with the outside world. Relief trains with doctors and nurses have been despatched from Winnipeg. The loss of property is roughly estimated at £1,000,000. Most o'f the people killed were crushed m the ruins of their houses. Several motor parties were lifted bodily and hurled blocks mway. Six grain elevators were destroyed on the Canadian Pacific tracks. The Parliament buildings, which have just been completed, of reinforced concrete, withstood the violence of the tornado, but were badly shaken. The town generally is a mass of ruins. Boats were whirled from the surface of the river and carried three-quarters of a mile distant. Fireß followed the destruction of the houses, but the Fire Hall craped itnscratehed; consequently the firemen presented the flames spreading. There were pathetic scenes over the recovery of the bodies, distracted relatives searching everywhere for their lost ones. Railway cars were carried into the streets from the yards.

MATTTIAL LAW PROCLAIMED. MANY MISSING. Received 3, 1.5 a.m. Ottawa, July 2. ■Martial law has been proclaimed in Regina. The troops are guarding the atreets to prevent lawlessness. The death roll has been reduced to thirty, but a number are missing. Many ▼ere "blown into the lake and drowned. Other cities are sending help, and tents are being erected for the refugees. Regina, the capita! of the province o! Saskatchewan, is situated between Calgarv and Winnipeg. It Ls the site of the' Government of the North-West Territories, and the headquarters of the North-West Mounted Police. It is in the centre of the rich grain-growing district of the western prairies. The population, which has been increasing -verv rapidlv, is now probably about 45.000. The town is not in the cyclone elt proper, so the recent tornado must have been quite unexpected.