TERRIFIC STORM HAVOC IN MELBOURNE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20477, 1 December 1934, Page 1

TERRIFIC STORM HAVOC IN MELBOURNE.

SEA WALL DOWN. Waves Beat Against 400 Homes in Elwood Suburb, ST HILDA PIER BREAKING UP. Five Lives Lost and Fate of Seven Others Unknown. (United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received December 1, 12.30 p.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. I ATE LAST NIGHT violent storms continued to rage over V Victoria. The worst gales in memory have taken toll of five lives and caused tremendous damage to homes and crops. The famous St Kilda Pier is breaking up and the fate of the seven occupants of the pier kiosk is unknown. The entire sea wall between St Kilda Road and the suburb of Elwood has been battered down by raging seas. At midnight waves were beating against 400 houses. Three square miles of Elwood are five feet under water.

With the exception of the Wimmera and Mallee areas, the whole of Victoria in the past twenty-four hours has been swept by most violent storms. Serious general floods are expected. Crops have been levelled and some of the main roads are impassable. Railway traffic has been disorganised by washaways and landslides, and the metropolitan area deluged. Shipping in Port Phillip Bay and along the coast experienced the worst buffeting for years. The Colonial Sugar Refining Companv’s motorship Triona went aground off Port Melbourne. It is .feared that it will become a total loss. i Late last night the Triona was lying "An a mud bank. Her crew are not in “danger. Men. Electrocuted. Four men were electrocuted through being caught in a pool of water charged with electricity. A fifth man was drowned in attempting to cross a flooded river in a cart. A man reported to the St Kilda Police that he had seen two men washed off the pier and believed that thev were drowned. The gale reached sixty-three miles an hour and five inches of rain fell in the metropolitan area in twelve hours. 800 Families Homeless. At Kensington, St Kilda, Frankston and other suburbs it is estimated that

800 families are homeless. The Varra River overflowed its banks and inundated the Chinese gardens. Chinese gardeners at Heidelberg climbed on the roofs of their houses but the continued rise of the water forced them to swim to higher ground and take refuge in the branches of trees. Because of washaways trains to South-east Victoria have been cancelled. Scene of Havoc. St Kilda is a scene of havoc, while in the city fire brigades are active pumping out flooded buildings. Scores of fishing craft and yachts have been wrecked and sunk. A number of suburbs were plunged in darkness when the wires were blown down. Some are even without gas. Reports coming to hand of the storm in the country districts told of two people believed to have been drowned at Eltham. They were last seen on the roof of a now submerged house. STORM DAMAGE IN N.S.W. (Received December 1, 2.15 p.m.) SYDNEY, This Day. Storms swept the southern districts of New South Dales, causing heavy damage to crops, fences, buildings and roads and torrential rain resulted in the rivers and creeks rising dangerously.