GALE AT OPOTIKI.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17579, 19 March 1929, Page 5

GALE AT OPOTIKI.

WORST FOR YEARS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) OPOTIKI, March 19. Enormous damage was done throughout the Opotiki district by a gale which sprang. up in the early hours of yesterday morning and reached its’ height about 7 o’clock. It was accompanied by rain.

The storm was the worst experienced for many years, hardly a tree remaining undamaged, and many have been torn out of the ground. Fruit trees were practically stripped, and vegetable and flower gardens also were badly damaged. The roofs of many outbuildings were

torn off and corrugated iron was scattered in all directions. The worst feature of the storm is the extensive damage done to maize crops, which were buffeted by the wind and practically flattened. The farmers will probably harvest 1000 sacks less than they expected, and a good deal of it will only be fit to feed pigs. Haystacks also were damaged. The electric power supply was interrupted, but it was restored about 9 o’clock. v The iron roof of a shop in Church Street was completely torn off, and some of the iron sheets hit a shop on the opposite side of the street and damaged its verandah.