YESTERDAY'S STORM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 793, 16 April 1910, Page 6

YESTERDAY'S STORM.

A FURIOUS NORTHERLY GALE. \ THE TELEGRAPH LINES SUTTEE.. S.S. HATJPIEI ASHORE. The furious northerly gale which swopt the city on Thursday night and yesterday morning hae left a long list of damage in its train. Tho gale was general throughout Now Zealand, and was felt practically everywhere from the Bluff up to tho far north. According to a report from Nelson, a heavy gale swept tbp West Coast, and telegraphic communication between Reefton and Greymouth had been injured. There was also a minor break beyond Lyell, so that only intermittent communication was possible between Nelson and Reefton. At 1 o'clock yesterday the gale had so buffeted the wires that Christchurch and Dunedin were totally cut off from the north. Communication could only be held as far as Lyell on the Weßt Coast and Kekerangu on the East Coast. In Christchurch there were several breaks in the telegraph lines, : and in one place six poles came down in one clean eweep. This cut Wellington and Christcliuxch communication. Communioatiosi' was still interrupted last night; ' •

A good deal of minor damage is reported in Wellington, several roofs and fences and buildings in course of erection having suffered. The galvanised iron roof of tie motor garage at the rear of the Parcels Post Office was ripped off and hurled against the wall of the Hotel Arcadia. The Electric Lighting Department • suffered by broken wires, and a number of broken lamps'. When the gale was at its worst yesterday morning it overturned a cov-ered-in four-wheeled van which, was standing in the street. An able-bodied woman was reminded of the force of, the gale by being roughly deposited on tho wood-bkckihg by a squall which struck her just after she emerged, from a land agent's office in Manners Street. A heavy sea was running in-the harbour,-, the most serious mishap on the water-front being the breaking adrift of the Union Company's steamer Haupiri. The Haupiri was laid up off Kaiivarra,. and shortly after 2 o'clock in tho morning she began to drift, and did not stop until she reached the rocks at Shelley Bay. The caretaker of the vessel, ■■ Carmichael, was on board at the time, and ho noticed the vessel under way, but he did not burn any signal of distress as the boat drifted down the harbour. There was no light on • the Haupiri, and consequently tho watchmen on the wharf did not see ■ her drifting, although they were keeping a sharp look-out in case the barque Hnzel Craig, which was being towed, in from the Heads, rounded the point. The steamer eventually brought up on tho beach at Shelley Bay. The Flora went down to tow the stranded vessel off yesterday afternoon, but it was not until full tide, about 9 p.m., that she succeeded in getting the boat off. ' The Haupiri was none tie worse for her drift, and was taken to her moorings off Kaiwarra. The lighter Norseman was driven on to the shore at Pipitea Point, and a Harbour Board, punt also found a rest-' mg place on the Point. . COACH BLOWN OVER. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) Napier, April 15. A gale' was experienced in this district to-day. The coach, on the way to Ponm, was blown over at a place called Windy Gap. The driver and. passengers escaped without injury, though one of the horses. was hurt. The coach was slightly damaged, but was righted and continued on its journey.