DWELLING LIFTED OFF FOUNDATIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 8, 10 January 1929, Page 6

DWELLING LIFTED OFF FOUNDATIONS

WHIRLWIND IN CANTERBURY. (Per Press Association.) CHKLSTCHURUH, Jan. 8. A devastating whirlwind was experienced at Waihao Forks in the Waimate district, South Canterbury, this afternoon. Though it lasted only about a minute, it wrought extensive damage to the homestead of Mr William Charles Ashworth, who has a farm at AUanholme,. and considerable damage was also done in the vicinity of the AUanholme Coal Mine nearby. Most damage seems to have been done to, and near, Mr Ashworth’s house- The house itself, according to the story of the six occupants at. (he time, was lifted about two feet off its foundations and left out of plum. Had the whirlwind continued longer it is felt certain that the house would have capsized. As it was the kitchen chimney ami washhouse chimney were levelled and the iron roof torn off the wash-house. Sheets of iron were turn off the roof of the house and all the rooms are now non-watertight. Many of the pine trees in the plantation round the bouse were uprooted and others wore severely bunt. 'The orchard was ruined, several trees being torn. up. A whare was smashed to matchwood after being carried a few chain;-. An old stable was wrecked ami also a shed adjoining, while of 300 empty sacks stored on the farm only 12 are now to be found. Horse covers also disappeared. A stack was carried away, and a dray against a fence among the trees was lifted to the other side of the fence, while a gig under the tree% was carried for a chain and a half, and smashed.

At the Allanhoimc coal mine, which is only eight chains from the homestead, a small house was lifted, half of it being carried over two hains away, while tho chimney was taken off another small abode. All the mine staging was blown down, and several telegraph poles adjacent to the mine and homestead were snapped oil four feet from the ground.

In Mr Ashworth’s house, at the time of the visitation, were Mrs Ashworth and five children. Th n y had a terrifying experience, especially when they thought the house was going to be turned over. Though the house was shifted, it was not shaken violently, so that nothing in it was disarranged, and nobody was hurt. Mr Ashworth was working in the- riverbed with a team when the whirlwind occurred, ami the horses bolted. In the riverbed the full force of the gale was not encountered, which.was perhaps lucky for Mr Ashworth. The whirlwind was confined to a small area. Mr Moyle’s place is only about 30 chains from Mr Ashworth’s, and only a corner of his plantation was touched while no damage was done on the farm of Mr Major, only 14 or 15 chains away. The scene of the visitation is now a strange sight. Debris is strewn everywhere and trees are bent, some one way and some another. The house is not sitting properly on its foundations, and the whole frame is slewed round a little. It is amazing that a motor shed only 30 feet away from the house was not touched by the wind-