A DESTRUCTIVE STORM.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1203, 11 January 1878, Page 3

A DESTRUCTIVE STORM.

The following account of tho moat terrific and disastrous thunderstorm ever known in Few South Wales, which recently passed over Q-renfell, is taken from the local paper:— . The day had hoon ycxj sultry, and soon after noon electric, clouds began to gather in the north-.west tid nearly five o'clock in the afternoon, when the tempest came almost without warning. The lightning was incessant and very vivid, flash succeeded Hash, and roll after roll of thunder, with blinding hailstones, some of which were us large a. walnuts. The noise, especially upon tho iron roofs, past description. A deluge of rain succeeded the hail, and a fearful hurricane of wind caused an amount of damage of which at present it is impossible to form anything like a correct estimate. The inhabitants of a town suddenly be sieved by an oven\ helming army nob for the time have felt jiOTe hopeless or more insecure. Every house; was shakon to its foundation, and in every direction all

kinds of building materials were Hying about. Never before was George street in such a state of excitement. On either side of the road was a deep current of water rushing towards the creek, while the middle of the street was strewed with debris. Sheets of zinc [and iron, signboards, shingles, bark, rafters, and verandahs were scattered about in all directions. On every side were to be seen roofless houses, tittering walls, fallen chimneys, arid window fronts blown in. On the outskirts of the town the destruction was equally great. Turn which way you might, roofless lioubcs were everywhere to be seen. As darkness approached the misery caused by the storm was still more apparent. Some were busy removing their furniture from their insecure buildings ; others were shoring up their walls, or covering the roofs of their dwellings with bark, calico, or whatever came to hand ; some were searching for empty houses in which to shelter their families for the night. The damage done to the wheat and hay is very great. Many farmers who had stacked their hay and were rejoicing at the success which had attended their labors, had, without warning, their ricks;, some containing fifty tons, scattered in all directions. Many acres of wheat ready for the sickle are now not worth cutting. On our way home we overtook a farmer who had been to G-renfell for sickles, to cut on the morrow a paddock of wheat which he valued at £6O. Presently his son rode up and said the crop was not worth lialf-a-crown. That is only one instance of many we have heard. The maize and every kind of garden crop and tree, are more or less injured ; the vines are completely stripped of their leaves, and most of the grapes are destroyed. The bush is scattered with fallen trees, and the destruction of fencing is very serious. Heavy sheets of iron and pieces of timber were carried hundreds of yards; others were bent and twisted into all manner of shapes. The Wesleyan chapel, the old building formerly used by the Congregationalists, and the Primitive Methodist chapel, are complete wrecks.