WHIRLWIND OVER FARM

Taranaki Daily News, 21 January 1933, Page 7

WHIRLWIND OVER FARM

SHED BLOWN AWAY.

ROOF OF HOUSE TORN.

Auckland, Jan. 19.

A whirlwind, moving at a great speed, passed over the Paterangi farming district, 14 miles south-west of Hamilton, at four o’clock this afternoon, and severely damaged a small farm house of Mr. S. H Adams. It stretched down from a black storm cloud to the earth like a huge whip, and although its path was about 100 yards wide and over a mile long before its strength was spent, most of the damage was oaused on Mr. Adams’ property. ‘ Thunder and heavy rain and a hail storm of jagged pieces of ice as large as a shilling accompanied the whirlwind. A large shed, a few yards from the house, was reduced to a. pile of twisted sheets of corrugated iron and a haystack, two paddocks away, was blown flat by the great force of the wind..

The whole of the iron roof of the house was loosened, and one end was buckled up, snapping off the steel chimney and leaving rooms uncovered. Scantlings to which the iron was nailed were splintered and twisted, and one of them came away altogether and was carried many yards before falling to the ground. All the smaller articles in the house were whirled away and distributed over a wide area bv the wind, which left in its wake books, letters, playing cards, and clothes