TRAIL OF DAMAGE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 138, 7 December 1929, Page 9

TRAIL OF DAMAGE

CYCLONE AT GREYMOUTH

ROOFS OF HOUSES LIFTED OFF

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.)

GBEYMOUTH, 6th December,

Greyraouth was this evening -visited at; about 7.30 by a cyclone and waterspout, which came from the sea directly eastwards, with a width of from four to five chains. After passing over Blaketown ;and the Lagoon, the cyclone crossed Co wper, High,, and Shakespeare streets, leaving in its wake a trail of damage. • In Blaketown five houses, together Trith the outhouses, were seriously damaged, the roofs being blown off in each instance. Quite a number of chimneys were damaged. The waterspout was observed by many people as it crossed the Lagoon.' The wind, on reaching Cowper street, lifted the roof of a new bungalow, and carried it across the town into the hills to the eastward. Pour or five other nouses between Cowper street and :the Chills had . their roofs more or less lifted, while the electric and tele"graphic wires were dislodged along the trick of the cyclone. The whole electrical current of the town momentarily was/interrupted. There was great alarm caused amongst the residents within a certain distance of the storm's course, as it was accompanied by a loud roaring and a stream of floating sheets of iron, timber, and ether debris. The waterspout does not appear to .have wrought any destruction, but it presented an awesome spectacle as it ■was seen arising, out of the ocean. The ■weather has been wet and boisterous for a long time past, but the storm came without any warning. The scene of destruction attracted people thither in largo numbers. It is fortunate that the track of the cyclone was not a little further to the northwards, as in that case it would have passed over a much larger number of structures. At the time of the earthquakes a cyclone took a similar course. e8t I "flate °f the damage is yet possible, but it is not expected to prove .very .considerable. continued adverse weather has prevented shipping movements here.