TERRIFIC STORM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17313, 31 March 1924, Page 1

TERRIFIC STORM.

STEAMER IN CYCLONE. TOSSED LIKE A CORK. P*m PllU AMOOIATTO*. AUCKLAND. March 31. The Arahura arrived from Gisborne at ten o’clock last night. six hours late. An hour after leaving Gisborne, without warning, she encountered a cyclone which flung the steamer about like a cork. The storm continued with unabated fury till 9 p.m. on Friday, when she rounded the East Cape. Apart from flooding some cabins, very little damage was done. On Saturday, at about 4 p.m.. the wind suddenly rose to a high easterly gale, which struck the ship like a shot out of a gun. Within a few minutes the sea and sky seemed mingled together. Rain poured down in a deluge and the sea rose as quickly as the wind. In the next few hours the crew had a trying time and the passengeis a terrifying ordeal. The seas were like combers on a beach as they struck the Arahura’s bow. They broke on board and flood ed the decks. A fierce wind lashe 1 the tops of the waves and carried blinding spray high over the bridge. A call was to have been made at Tokomaru Bay. but the stormy conditions made that impossible, and passengers and mails tor that- port were carried to Auckland. During the height of the tempest magnetic condi tions made the wireless temporarily in

capable of receiving or sending mes sages. The East Cape seemed to mark the edge of the storm area, because short 1. after the vessel had rounded that point the storm ceased almost with remark able suddenness. With one shift the. wind changed from east to north, then west, south west and south. When the wind changed direction the black storm cloud cleared from the skv like a curtain drawn away, and those on the Arahura were delighted to see hrigh, stars shining and the storm fast pass ing astern.