DESTRUCTIVE HURRICANE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11648, 28 August 1905, Page 7

DESTRUCTIVE HURRICANE.

Islands Devastated.

Twenty People Killed and Many

Wounded.

SYDNEY, August 14.

Details of the destructive

hurricane

that devastated the Caroline Group reached Sydney on Saturday. In the great storm that struck Kusaie and Ponape twenty people were killed and over 300 wounded by falling trees, flying timbers, sticks, and stones. The storm raged five hotirs, then gradually subsided, but when the terrified inhabitants were able to go abroad they found their homes swept away, their growing crops destroyed, their fruit trees torn up by the roots, and the islands practically ravaged by the ruthless hand of the storm.

•As a result of the cyclono there will be suffering for food, and especially for clothes, among the islanders. . According to the story of a resident missionary the hurricane began on the morning of April 19. Without any warning the great wind swept from the east, and then began that terrible circling motion of the cyclone. Kusaie seemed to be almost in the centre of the storm, and suffered accordingly. Not a house was left standing. Governor Berg's house went down with the rest. Great trees were torn up by the roots or their tops snapped off and flung afar in the sea. Five natives were killed by flying timbers and twenty were wounded. Two vessels in the harbour were lost. One was the Governor's new private schooner, which had arrived only the day before. For four or five hours the fury of $he storm was at its height, then the wind subsided, and the inhabitants crept from their places of concealment. They found practically every breadfruit and cocoa nut tree destroyed, every house scattered over the ground, and the' plantations almost total wrecks. The house of the Rev. J. M. Channon was least injured, and it was blown off its foundations and the roof snatched off like paper. .Twenty-five hours later the storm struck Ponape, and the scene of destruction was repeated. Here 15 people, all natives, were killed, and about 300 wounded, many seriously. It is estimated that 50 per cent of tho cocoanut trees and nearly all the broadfruit trees in the Caroline Islands are destroyed. It will take four or five years for new trees to come into bearing. During this" time it will be a struggle for existence among the islanders. They will have coarse taro, sweet potatoes, and yams, but will have no money to buy clothes and little even for ordinary groceries. The storm was the worst in the history of the islands, so far as is known. One hundred years ago there was a great storm there, and a lesser one fourteen years ago, but neither so destructive as this. At times in this storm the wind reached an estimated velocity of 100 miles an hour, and people were carried from their feet by its force. The only accident reported to a foreigner was that of a young missionary, Miss Wilson, who suffered two ribs broken and minor bruises from timbers. The American mission schooner Morning Star ha 4 !! a miraculous escape from destruction on the coral reefs. Twice the wind swept the vessel on the reef and twice tho wind veered round and drove the vessel off before she could pound herself to pieces. She suffered some damage to her copper sheathing.