THE STORM IN WELLINGTON.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 470, 31 March 1909, Page 8

THE STORM IN WELLINGTON.

DAMAGE IN AND ABOUT THE CITY. The southerly rain storm that swept over the city on Monday night had exhausted itself by, daylight yesterday morning, leaving a clean, scoured city to face the cheerful morning sun. Though a short one, the storm had been very severe, and the rainfall exceedingly heavy for Wellington. Between 9»a.m. on Monday and the same hour yesterday no : less than 172 points were registered by the official Government rain gauge on Mount Cook, which is nearly two inches (1.72 inches) for twenty-four hours — a fall of a rather sub-tropical kind. The gale which blew on Monday night and early yesterday morning did considerable damage one way and another. Many fences were blown down, and sheets of iron lifted off outhouses in the hillside suburbs, and the gardens, both in Wellington and at the Hutt, suffered. It is during such furious storms that the Telegraph Department has keep alert to repair any damage done to wires. _ In consequence of a fault or break in the direct south wire, all messages sent south of Blenheim yesterday were delayed some four hours. Nelson and Blenheim were the only offices in the South Island with which 'Wellington could communicate directly. A fault was also found in' the wire that traverses the west coast of the North Island. The force of the gale was accountable for some shinglo getting into the points at the Ngahauranga station yesterday morning. This caused some delay to early trains to the city, and some passengers who had arranged to go north by the 7.50 a.m. express from Thorndon (Manawatu) had serious doubts as to whether they would "connect, but with'the aid of cabs they were just able to do so.