THE STORM OF SUNDAY NIGHT.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2088, 6 July 1875, Page 3

THE STORM OF SUNDAY NIGHT.

At daylight yesterday morning, the storm of the previous night had quito subsided, and the.wind, which had blown with almost hurricano force- from tho northoast, now came in zephyrs from the west, The people of the Thames could therefore look around and estimate the damage whioh had bren done without any fear of an immediate recurrence of tho causo' of mischief, The wonder in most people's minds seemed to be, that, considering the high tide and the strong wind, the damage had not been greater. Pcoplo who went to bed in their comfortable tenements, with tho wind roaring in their ears, and their houses shaking with the storm, naturally thought tLat feebler structures) in more exposed . positions, weuld be levelled with the ground. But there was very little damage to house property, rnd almost all the substantial mischief was noticed in our yesterday's paper. ■ • The vessels in harbour, we may almost say, escaped uninjured, The 'Policeman' jdragged her anchors from opposite the Goods wharf till she brought up abreast of tho Gas Worksi The ' WilJiam and .Julia'also dragged her rnchors for some "considerable distance, but suffered no damage. Both these vessels set sail for the Bay of Islands yesterday morning. Tho master of tho • Mariner,', which came iaon Sunday, reports having experienced very bad weather outside. Jhe 'Prince Alfred' dropped off from the wharf,'; let go an anchor, and paid outchaio; sho also had a rope attached to the wharf to easo the strain on the anchor, At >hortland tho cutter'" Saucy Jack' was cast up amongst the mangroves.. The harbour .boat, which was on, the .gridiron, and which was attached by.a rope, broke away, tho stem having b§en, torn, right out ;of her., Sho was drifted across Brown-slreef, and up against the Naval Brigade drill shed. Wo'quite anticipated that it would be impossible for the Tararu wharf to stand the sea to which it was exposed, and were not surprised to see that two complete breaches' 1 had been made in it—one'loo feet, and another of about 40. Captain Best, harbourmaster, telegraphed to the taperintcrident informing • him of what had taken place,' and received instructions to hire a boat for the purpose of keeping the light up in the meantime. Besides the breach in the road wall at the Kuranui, the wall has been considerably injured close to tho engine-shed Tho ko. engines have also been somewhat injured. The damage to the Tararu wharf will probably amount to about £300, andjto the engine-shed and engines £100.

The Graliamstown wharf has" only the one breach,-next tho toll-hou.se, and Mr Curtis, with his usual promptitude, had a contract let for repairing it, and men were at work yesterday morning. We understand that it will be ready for traffic to-day. - ■';.";:..;;■

The sho2i3 and warehouses in Albertstreet have all received some damage to their contents by tho water, the largest sufferers being Mr Marshall and Messrs ; Osborne Brothers, : , The damage in .'the >oase of the latter would have been greater had not tho precaution been taken to lift the flour bags from the floor. . From the extent of Mr Marshall's premises and the largeness of his stock, damage to a considerable amount has been done. During the height of the flood a bucket was drifted into the door, of the Advbbtisbb office, and has not yet been claimed. On the Shorthand Beach the trim gardens in front of tho houses have been destroyed, and yesterday morniog the shrubs and flowers could be'.:seen peeping through tho layer of barren sand and shells which the waves had thrown on tho garden ground, Tho s>>a has greatly encroached at Shortland of late years, owing, we suppose, to tho filling up of the foreshore further north. At ono place it has come in about 50 feet, and where the grass used to grow plentifully is now covered with sand.

Captain Best, who -is weather officer here, received intimation on Saturday evening from the Meteorological Office at Wellington that a storm might be expected within a few hours... Captain Best found that between 8 o'clock on Sunday morning and 8 yesterday morning the instrument indicated, that •tho wind had travelled at the rate of .690 miles in the • twenty-four hours, With the two, per cent, added for friction this would bring the average up to about. 30miles in the, twenty-four hours. Captain Best measured ono hour, when tho wind was nearly at its strongest, and found that it was blow'ng at the rate of 52 miles per hour, the rate of a gale being 30, miles per hour,. , "A* large rata free was' blown' down across the Moanataiari tramway, opposite the Point Russell claim, and of course smash eel tho tramway.