VIOLENT GALE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1928, Page 10

VIOLENT GALE.

DAMAGE IN POVERTY BAY. verandah: blown oiter. HOTEL SEVERAL HOUSES LOSE ROOFS. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) • GISBORNE, Sunday. L Some account of the damage done by 1 the gale which raged throughout Poverty . Bay on Saturday morning, is now availj able. For some hours Gisborne was . practically isolated, as telephone and . telegraph communication was interrup- ] ted. The wires were down between Wai- . roa and Napier on the south line, and j at Matawai on the north. Two country townships suffered severely, Whatututu and Ruatorea. Whatatutu is inland about 28 miles north of . Gisborne, and the gale experienced there s was the worst in the memory of the j settlers. The wind came rushing down the valley with terrific force, which . reached its height about nine o’clock, f Amongst the first buildings affected was 1 the two-storey hotel, the front verandah i of which broke away with a crash. Parts of it were carried over the roof and into the hack yard. The alarmed residents heard the noise, but they were too busy protecting their own property to give much assistance. The hurricane continued tearing down the valley and soon a large blacksmith’s shop, which was unoccupied, was demolished. Several houses had their roofs blown completely off, and chimneys were brought down in all directions. * Flying timber and sheets of iron were in some cases carried miles away. Part of the roof of a large store was blown off and the staff hurriedly threw ; ropes over the remaining portion, for security. The shelter shed at the school 1 was completely wrecked and several small buildings were blown down and ! demolished. , Invalid Removed Just In Time. s Many exciting incidents occurred dur--1 ing the gale, and many people had narrow escapes. In one case a woman who i had been seriously ill was removed from her home just a few minutes before the roof under which she had sheltered was ■ carried avay. From Whatatutu a large ’ number of private telephone lines ex- ? tend in all directions, and all were J blown down, so that the back country r beyond Whatatutu was completely iso- '. lated-

Motor cars in Whatatutu and its vicinity presented an unusual sight, many of them having their hoods blown off. The damage in the interior cannot be ascertained, but it is reported that the woolshed at Mr. Duncan Campbell’s Mangamaia station was partly wrecked. Whart Rolled too Yards. Severe damage was done at Ruatorea, 82 miles north of Gisborne. The balcony of the hotel was completely demolished, several windows were broken, and many chimneys blown down and the flying timber crashed on to the telephone wires, putting them all out of action. > On Mr. J. Reedy’s property a threer roomed whare, occupied by two men, one of whom was shaving at the time, was „ caught by the wind and rolled over and 5 over for fully 100 yards, with both men I inside. The building was finally de- - molished, but although the men were ■ badly bruised and suffered from severe 1 shock, they were not seriously injured. The roof of the shelter shed at the [ school was blown off, and the same fate befel a large cottage next to the hotel, f At Jerusalem the roof of a church waa > blown off and the roof of a small house , was removed bodily. Another house was , in course of erection, with all the walls , standing, but in an instant these were laid flat on the ground. The timber was , blown in all directions. j Between Ruatorea and Tokomarn Bay . motor traffic is impeded by big trees that j have been blown across the roads. 5 _ ~