WINDSTORM OVER SYDNEY

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1928, Page 11

WINDSTORM OVER SYDNEY

DEVASTATING FIRES FANNED BLUSTERING, DUST-LADEN GALE, BUILDINGS CARRIED AWAY BODILY By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. Australian Press Association, Received Oct. 8, 12.50 a.m. Sydney, Oct. 7. Sydney this morning sweltered in a heat wave accentuated by a hot, blustering; dust-laden wind from the interior plains. Outings were made extremely unpleasant and a good deal of minor damage was done in suburban areas. This afternoon the gale reached cyclonic character for a time, doing great damage in many suburbs. Buildings were unroofed, and in some instances carried away bodily, landing In a collapsed condition hundreds of yards distant. Windows in the city suffered severe! v.

During the height of the wind-storm in the early afternoon, fire broke out in the Australian Paper Mills, Lane Cove River. The plant covered an area of 20 acres and with three barges was gutted. The fire threatened to become serious in the adjoining bush, but it is believed to be under control now. Several men engaged in fighting tho flames had narrow escapes.

The brigades had little chance against the fierce winds fanning the blaze, which is supposed to have started in one of the barges, though the origin is inexplicable. The damage is estimated at £500,000. Another fire at Woy Woy, a seaside resort north of Sydney, destroyed over thirty cottages, the damage being £15,000. The fierce gale and the absence of fire-fighting appliances rendered the spectators helpless. Heavy winds recently lifted large quantities of dust from parched areas in the west. These. formed an awesome cloudbank like a fog, which overshadowed the city in the forenoon like a threatening rainstorm, but which passed eastward in the direction of New Zealand.