SWEPT BY CYCLONE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16021, 21 February 1920, Page 5

SWEPT BY CYCLONE.

DEVASTATION AT CAIRNS,, TERRIBLE NIGHT OP TERROR ESTIMATED DAMAGE £580,000. The cyclone which struck Cairns, ia the Northern part of Queensland, oa Hie evening of February 2, was of a most violent description, and did damage estimated at ,£580,000 in that town alone. The whole of the surrounding’ district suffered almost as severely, says the Auckland Herald correspondent. If Hie residents had had any warning much loss might have been avoided, particularly along the ■waterfront. The meteorologists discovered what was brewing oil Monday evening, and sent out. urgent warnings, but somehow the mcosage did not reach Cairns until 11 p.m.. when it was too late to warn the townsfolk. Tho latter might have noticed it for themselves, however ; the barometer suddenly fell to 5.17—a sure sign of a cyclone in those latitudes. At 2 p.m. the town was dark ami asleep. A few minutes later the wind rose with appalling rapidity and force. It boomed, then it roared, and then it shrieked and howled. At 2.30 there wan a light in every house, and the people clustered helplessly togctlier in terror. The heilow of the tempest increased in intensity every minute. It drowned all independent sound and movement. One could not walk against it —those who tried were bowled over at once. Trees, chimneys, telephone poles, and building,') began to fall before the 'gale. Roofs came away in every direction; there was a constant crash of bursting windows; the air was full of flying fragments. The police and ambulance men, assisted by many volunteers, worked very gallantly, rescuing people from collapsed house* and all sorts of perilous situations. MOSQUITO FLEET DESTROYED. Tho wind rose to the incredible force of 100 miles an hour, aud sweeping the sea over into the (own, brought new terrors. The retaining wall collapsed under the battering of a fearful sea, and water rushed, across into the town. Houses were flooded—many collapsed while havoc was worked in the haxbouf basin. The oak log industry is an important one in the Cairns district, and there were large rafts lying in the basin seasoning-—about £9OOO worth altogether. The maddened sea hurst these rafts apart and the logs began to churn around tho basin, and every craft of any kind, including a large number of motor-boats, was crushed and funk. Cairns is the headquarters of quite a large mosquito fleet, and the damage done was enormous. The harbour works —beacons, piers, walls, harboursida buildings—are almost completely wrecked. Mere description can convey little idea of what the conditions in the residential area were like during this period. The people from damaged house fought their way through the storm to safer places;; and this terror-stricken migration became accentuated when the sea broko into the lower part of tho town. Tho tempest had extinguished most of tho street lights, and the trembling refugee* had to struggle as best fhey could through the dark. A belief that the town was about to he engulfed by a tidal wave—a belief due to the roar of the sea and the flying salt spray—did nothing to lessen their terrors. The men doing rescue work collected women, lost children, invalids, and aged persons at the police and ambulance stations, and there gave them what help was possible. & MANY GALLANT RESCUES.

There were many brave rescues. A girl saw a young man overwhelmed and badly wounded by hying glass. She dragged him into her house, rendered first aid, and then went out through the storm in her nightdress and brought help. The hospitals were overwhelmed by an inrush of persons suffering various kinds of injuries, mostly cut and broken limbs, and a complicating factor was the premature birth of several babies during those hours of terror. There were no deaths, but many extraordinary escapes. A fisherman was caught in a launch some miles out. lie fought through the storm for hours. Then hia launch sank, and be swam, with tlie gale, for three miles, and just managed to struggle ashore. Daylight revealed a scene of devastation. A great number of buildings had collapsed, many more were unroofed. The sea front and the basin were completely wrecked. There was not a window of any size left intact. Trees had fallen in every direction, doing great damage. The telegraph and telephone services were in a state of chaos. Tbe gale did not slacken much with daylight, but with darkness the worst terrors departed and the people turned as best they could to reduce the work of the cyclone to order. But the tempest still raged, and even late in the afternoon it was not possible to walk about: one had to rush from shelter to shelter between the gusts.

OTHER SMALL TOWNS SUFFER,

All the little towns in the district of which Cairns is the outlet suffered similarly. Communications is gradually being restored. It appears that in some places, like Port Douglas, to tbe north, and Molloy, to the north-west, have gob scarcely a building left intact. One house is left standing in Molloy, and perhaps a dozen in Port Douglas, which, normally, is a flourishing place. Many persons have been severely injured, bub except for a scrub feller, who was drowned, there have been no deaths. The storm, of course, was accompanied and followed by torrential rain, and all the rivers sprang suddenly to high flood. Railway bridges were washed away, and most of these little centres were thus completely isolated for days. The people have asked the Government for help, but are themselves setting vigorously to work to restore their property. They take these things philosophically. One must, when one lives in the cyclone belt.