THREE DAYS GALE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14040, 25 October 1909, Page 7

THREE DAYS GALE.

THE HARDEST FOR YEARS. COUNTRY WATERLOGGED. On Friday afternoon a southerly gale sprang" up, which by its strength and steadiness, and the time it lasted reminded old settlers of the "three-" dajs sou'-wester" which was a well recognised feature of Canterbury weather in the early days, but for some reason or other has not been heard of so much, if at all for years past. The climate mav have been different in that interval. At all events so persistent a southerly gale as that which' blew from Friday afternoon till the" time of writing (Sunday evening) has not been a common enough experience of late- years as to recall at its onset the?old time remark "We'll have three day* of it." „ . . The gale was at its fiercest during Fridav night, and it wrought great mischief in gardens and orchards, but no damage to fixed property, .borne old" wooden fences were blown over or given a list, but the total damage of this kind was not great. The deciduous trees were just putting on their summer suit, and the tender young leaves were thrashed off pitifully. Very heavy rain fell on Friday evening; and throughout the night, so that rain gauges on Saturday morning registered about 2 inches for the previous 24 -hoursv There were many fleeting showers during Saturday and yesterday but the total additional rainfall was not great. The temperature was low: and snow fell on the ranges, but glimpses of them yesterday showed thai it lay not more than halfway down on the frontal ridges. A message from Sir Sams, manager of Balmoral to the N.Z.L. Company, on Saturday stated that Friday night »as one o£ the stormiest that be had experienced, a very high wind, and ram falling '« torrents.. On Saturday morning the high country had a good bating of fresh snow, but there was just a sprinkling on the flats. , There were very few country people ia town on Saturday; but those spoken, to ieDorted the rain to be general. In £* GeraWinTdistrict the storm quife as in Timaru and the rivers and creeks were m flood. PlanStfons had suffered, and ™*?J**% ssfws \ stock are haxms. » *»* lambs on would heavily exposed ther e f ™£ * ttt of Cross fJTfor Vteamster to get into. The « t. ri£r*tir was able to speak m had the bad partsj ready for-the heavy fwrrtSnrX Many of the gratings, to SdTSefc l*came H«*«d ™ th ™bd fK! a '™Sted^: damage-io streets or paths "«»»~-, Ou? temuka correspondent writes, rfh* ain that commenced to fall on FridTr'cwtiiffled with unabated force south easterly gales the country and the nvers are all rnnning'.baok hignHARBOUR. So-rioknt oVgate as that of Friday raked a- big sea, and io £ms* blustering gale and rain people, visited the harsea was-a<nne sight on SaturdVjtag ,r»ve* ahorewards rapidly, awl wit* eurliifttfP* over an area at frost the shore. The Eer^aVe*.broke with a fine splash oflSraysi* 'the eastern mole and their tumbled over m great wnite masses. Where the surfl.ne at the beach toucied the mole the waves tripped up by the toe of the shingle brokV-on the mole most heavily and made-the biggest and the highest splashes. There was an evident anxiety "to know whether the mole was being damaged or no, but «» could bo seen-from the shore end there was no damage whatever, except the stripping of a few footway planks on the outer line of tramway by the uprush" of the broken waves. The value of the mole was best 6ecn from Melville Hill, for there it could

be seen that there were no curling waves within a inilo from the end of the eastern mole to the middle, or even to the northern end, of the Dashing rocks. Formerly the contrast between the violent outer sea and the quiet water of the enclosed harbour used to be remarkable. On Saturday when the sea was at its height the contrast between mo white-topped dangerous waves outside and the absence of them under the lie «t the mole was even more striking, because there was ho concrete wall separating one from the other.' ' A notable result of the sens is the amount of shiiigle brought up to the eastern mole air<l the extension of the bank along the mole. Yesterday at low water tne surf-line was at the 16ft. or 17th tier of piles—a considerable advance on its previous ]x>sition. This is beyond Mr 3f. Saunders 'experimental work, so that he would Ih> unable to work there any longer, unless the shingle retreats. '.As it runs out with a sharp angle from the general line of the beach., it probably will retreat with the next northerly* weather. | As the storm happened to come at a season of neap tides, and was well from the south the surf did not reach the esplanade on Caroline Bay. FLOODS IX CHRISTCHURCH. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Oct, 23. A storm of exceptional severity swept up tho east coast of the South Island last night, reaclu'ng Christchurch late in the evening. Rain set in about 8 o'clock and an hour or two later the wind got up increasing to a violent gale which did considerable da mage in the city and the surrounding districts. The temperature also dropped sharply and the weather becaiiie bitterly cold. • The storm, is the second heaviest that has been experienced in Christchurch .this year. The rainfall up to 9.3 a.m. to-day amounted to 2.725 in. and .322 in. fell between that time and 1 o'clock this afternoon. The scene which occurred in lower High street between Fitzgerald Avenue and Barbadrcs street on March. 30th last, bade fair to repeat itself, for at noon to-day the water was beginning to cover the footpaths on oar-h. side, and pedestrians were forced to pick their way carefully along the tramline 'which, was the only passable .spot.__ In Fitzgerald Avenue between St. Asaph and Tuam streets matters were much worso and fully a foot of water was lying along the footpaths, while the' roadway was also inundated.. - -The Lancaster Park-fence was not strong enough to withstand the gale and about half a chain was blown, on to the road. Sydenham; which is rather lowlying, came through, fairly well and as far as could be ascertained the damage dono was.not very serious. Tne Heathcote is in high flood and the, adjacent property in the vicinity of-the City Council's pumping station was-covered. Near the tram terminus about six■ inches -of water covered a fair' extent of land, while round the foot of the hills a similar state of affairs existed. . The flat portions of the Cashmere estate suffered rather severely and the water accumulated rapidly, causing much damage to stock. About 200 sheep, out of a-.,mob of 2000 were drowned or died'from exposure. They were placed oii*the exposed side of the : hill-and .when the shepherds went to yard them this morning, they found that the weather had played havoc With them. The Sanatorium felt the effects of the gale and ;a>number of shelters which it was; proposed to use for consumptives were, blown down. The storm of course interfered very considerably with telegraph and telephone services. A reporter called at the Chief Post Office early this afternoon to ascertain what damage had 'been done; The- officer in charge was away and the official to whom the reporter was' referred, evidently considered that it would be high treason to let the public: know what had actually happened. He curtly.lnformed the reporter .that he had no time to talk tg him, but ultimately be came down ott the high horse and deigned to answer a few questions. He said_that the lines were : down to the north, sctiui and west. He was in a colossal ignorance about the telephone serorico He did ndt know who knew anything about anything. Post office servanteVere not supposed to tell any.tbing to reporters. SEVERE LOSS OF STOCK. CHRISTCHURCH, Oct, 24 It is stated by visitors to town that country sheep-owners hate suffered very considerable loss among shorn sheep and lambs. One man says that in the Little River district there are hundreds of dead sheep and lambs in the paddocks. It is impossible to accurately estimate the loss of sheep on the Cashmere estate but it can be stated positively that the loss is serious. The station was in the middle of shearing and shorn sheep on the

hills would have very little chauce of weathering the bitter storm. The sheep on the hillside near the consumption sanatorium and many more in the back paddocks suffered Very severely. A' resident on the hills states that lie saw some hundreds of sheep in a creek near the sanatorium, their bodies practically blocking the bed of the creek. Cashmere shears rather earlier than the country stations, and it was of course very unfortunate that this blizzard should come along. Several sheep men sny that it is the worst that has been experienced for ten years at this season. • The gale moderated considerably today. Xhough there were occasional showers, the wind, however, much decreased and apparently the violence of the, blow has been spent. SERIOUS LOSS OF SHEEP. ASHBURTOX, Oct, 24. "A steady cold southerly rain has now been falling with but little intermission since Friday afternoon, and as yet there; are no prospects of abatement. The total fall up till 4 o'clock this afternoon was 4.61 inches. So far the crops are not deleteriously affected, but a heavy mortality has been caused amongst newly shorn sheep, losses totalling about 1500 having already been reported in level country, while fears are expressed that in the higher parts of the county and hill country where lambing is much later a very grievous position of affairs has been created. HEAVIEST FOR YEARS. OAMARU, Oct. 23. The gale, which is the heaviest experienced here, continues with uuabated vigor. The Corinna arrived at 10 o'clock last night,. but was unableto get in. A number of fishing craft lying in the harbour broke their moorings and were smashed on the rocks. —, ,_^