DESTRUCTIVE STORM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 790, 13 April 1910, Page 5

DESTRUCTIVE STORM.

NEWS FROM FUI. HOMES WRECKED: CHURCHES DAMAGED. CANE CROPS SUFFER. SERIOUS LOSS OF LIFE REPORTED ' (By Teleeriph.-Suecial OorrjsDondant) Auckland, April 12. The Suva correspondent of the "Herald" sends an interesting description of thtfV. recent hurricane there. He says:— Coming as we have 60 near to the end of . March, the last of the hurricane months, it was confidently believed that we were to have immunity -for another year. There has not been a serious blow for the past six years or so, save for a half-hour in March, four years ago. The visitation of last week took us all by surprise. ' Last Thursday was a fine, clear, breezy : day, and at i p.m. tho barometer read 29.84. As the evening advanced, somo • nasty squalls set in with heavy rain and thunder and lightning. By 11 p.m. th« wind was sharp and strong from the south-east, tho glasi being at 29.75. At midnight we knew that the storm meant mischief, houses beginning to rock ominously, and trees were bending like fishing-rods. There were few people abed or asleep.

Torrential Rain. At 1 a.m. the wind.and- the thunder made an appalling noise, and the torrential rain found its way into every house in town. ■ Now and {hen one would hear a crash, as a portion of a flying roof struck hia dwelling, and at great risk the work of securing and covering windows went on : wherever possible. It was positively un- '• safe to open an outer door, and in many cases the wind beat locks and bolts.. As each hour passed the situation became worse. Several people had to desert their wrecked homes, and a numbersought shelter in tho crypt of the Roman Catholic-Cathedral. ". ■ "'.''.. From' 2 ajn. till 5 a.m. were fearful hours on a memorable Good Friday, and ■•■' the storm seemed to increase continually in violence. Many a terxified family sat ; up' anxiously waiting for daylight, expecting their homes to collapse at any moment.. ■ •■ ■ It was between 5 and 6 a.m. that the force of the hurricane abated,-although some nasty squalls continued,- • • . Scene of Devastation. With daylight the scene was one of wid»spread devastation. Along the Parad» the business houses suffered more or less. The Pier Hotel balcony again went by the board. V • .... Messrs. Sunderland and Co.'s butcher 1 * shop had its big signboard in the street; and the balcony 1 of Marrinon's buildings reposed under the trees on the'beach; side. ■ Mr. S.' Levy, jeweller, ■ suffered badly,; his balcony going and the whole building being shifted and twisted out of plumb. -.: At the Melbourne Hotel, psftt of the'' roof and verandah were carried; away, and '■■ the entire roof and a heavy concrete gabl» have gone off the Carnegie, library. '■._. The Town Hall had a 'lot ef glasa broken by a giant tree falling just outside.. Holy Trinity Church is heeled; over, to such an "angle that services have been abandoned. ■'. Mr. F. M'Lean's store on the Parade has lost its balcony, and ■ the' whole'. building is wrecked. ■'. - A rather store .at, the.. Parade corner- of Gladstone Eoad has collapsed like-a child's card house, the roof and walls being fiat oh the road. Close by i little Samoan laundry has been totally demolished, and the Temperance Hall it; in like plight, not a stick standing. Churches Suffer: . The new Samoah church leans over to a dangerous degree, and the old church has lost its entire front. Upon the extension exposed to ■ the south-cast the. damage is appalling. Houses are roofless everywhere, and 1 in. some cases walls are down as well. Captain Morton.has' suffered to the extent of .£6OO, roof and walls being down, and furniture ruined by wind and rain. -To enumerate the sufferers would be practically to write a-Suva directory.- ; In every/direction the effects of the storm ■ are seen. People foundjoois and timber , all over their gardens, - .carried goodness', knows • how far. : It was this .flying \ material that aided in! the work of destruction,. and several are' per- ; forated as. if by artillery fire! So far no fatalities to Europeans ate reported,- but an Indian woman was • • killed at Toorak by a flying sheet of iron, " and several Fijians were drowned. ■ ; .All wire communication .with , the country/is cut off, but'on Saturday news was brought in that- the Eewa 'district was in a bad plight. Only two houses escaped'injury, . At Mansori the chimneys and engine--, shed of the C.S.R. Company are down, and all the company's punts and launches ' sunk. The s.s. Adi Cakau at the wharf. The cane crops are nearly all flattened or wiped out by the floods. '. The river was a "banker," and all road traffio was impossible. ■". Many Indians and Fijians who have been rendered homeless are sheltering in the .bush. . The district will suffer very considerable loss indeed. Word has come in . from . the -Roman. Catholic Mission at Naililili that eight natives'have been killed by falling walls, ; and ono has had his leg y amputated. Thero are five still in the hospital.; '

Lautoka has escaped with, the loss: of some■ .■'■'• " '/;■;•■ .' -. '