TOWN’S DAY OF TERROR.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20280, 14 April 1934, Page 1

TOWN’S DAY OF TERROR.

First Details of Cyclone Damage. PERTH, April 5. When the motor-ship Koolinda called at Onslow, 700 miles north cf Perth, a few days ago, the master (Captain Buckeridge) found t'-.at the £120,000 concrete jetty had been demolished. That was the first the outside world learnt of the devastation wrought by a terrific cyclone on March 28, for land communication had been cut off. Only meagre details have since come through, and the first authentic story of Onslow’s day of terror is told, briefly and graphically, in the following special radio message from Captain Buckeridge: The blow came practically without warning. The glass fell suddenly, the townspeople heard an indescribable moaning rising to a shrill note, then it W£ ; on them. It hit the town at 8 a.m. and raked it without let up for six hours. Awe-stricken, the people gathered up their children and rushed to the post office and goods shed for shelter. There they remained huddled together in terror for most of the day. Above the scream of the cyclone they would hear, every now and then, the jarring crash of timbers as another of their homes was ripped to pieces. Twenty houses were completely demolished; several others were badly damaged. The whole of the upper storey of the hotel was torn off, Clark’s store, the Shell Oil building, and the' Mechanics’ Hall were flattened, and stocks were ruined; and all the sea end of the concrete jetty was swept, away. The damage is estimated at £BO,OOO It is amazing that no one was injured. One family stuck to their house, and it crashed about their ears. That night a woman from this house gave birth to a child. Fortunately the post office and the goods shed held out; otherwise loss of life would have been almost certain. Onslow is now entirely isolated, except by sea. Miles of telegraph line have been blown down, and surrounding floods make overland transport impossible. Nor can planes land. Fourteen and a half inches of rain have fallen in a week, and it is still raining. This has increased the hardships of the townspeople, many of whom are homeless and have been forced to camp out. Food supplies are being landed on the beach, and thus there is no immediate shortage of fcod in\ the town, but there is a severe possibility of a shortage occurring at inland stations.