GREAT STORM IN VICTORIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 720, 30 August 1870, Page 2

GREAT STORM IN VICTORIA.

[MELBOURNE TELEGRAPH.] ' The storm which swept over a great part of the continent on Wednesday afternoon, August 17th, was one of almost unprecedented violence, and attended with disastrous effects, and, even loss of jife^ Out* % of many, we collect the following particu-; f lars : — . ■■: •.-; s.- ■•••.'.. t." BALLARAT. At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon (says f *. the Star), Ballarat was again visited by a * severe hail,. rain, and thunder, stormy from the north-west, lasting for an hour, and attended with some exceptional circumstances. Mrßryce, Bridge street, handed' * to us the top branches of some peppermint * trees and dead pieces of fern and bark, which had fallen near his premises during the height of the storm, leading to the. conclusion that they had respectively been cut off and caught up during a whirlwind. Mr John C. Shepherd, collector, Victoria street toll-gate, Melbourne road, states:— "At 3 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, 1 I was standing in the porch of the Victoria f ' : street toll-gate, Melbourne road, when the thunder-storm was passing over Ballarat. There came one vivid flash of lightning, and the electric fluid struck directly opposite to the gate, about 100 yards i off, dde^ ' to the railway line, amongst some young saplings, and cut them off just as quick as the lightning itself, and took them up into" i : the air like a whirlwind. Many pieces J descended close to the door of ;. the toHU r . hquse." Men standing in the yard of thp gasworks, and in the rear of the premises of Mr J. K. Baird, observed that the air was quite darkened^ for a' time by thp

quantity of mitter carried over the town at a considerable elevation, and they became aware of its nature by showers of twigs and bark falling upon them and about them. The rain-cloud that seemed most potential during the storm overspread the town like a pall, and caused a, gloom which for the time rendered it quite impossibleto transact any business in shops and offices. The lightning was very vivid, and the thunder loud, and following almost without interval of time. The rain for a considerable period was heavy, and continuous. With reference to the whirlwind, we aro informed by Dr Whitcawhe that he, being at the time near the corporation cattle-yards, BaHarat West, noticed the cloud of vegetable debris " coming from the north-west, and appa- . rently extending far beyond the reach of vision, or even the horizon, giving rise to the impression that some tremendous atmospheric phenomenon must have occurred in a comparatively remote region of the continent to cause so remarkable a visitation. BENDTGO. One of the severest storms (relates the Advertiser) that have visited this district for some years occurred on Wednesday. The previous evening gave numerous evidences of something unusual approaching; it was remarked that the domestic animals were uneasy, and many people complained of being unable to sleep during the night. Towards morning the rain begaa to fall, and up to half-past 10 o'clock it rained . without ceasing. Then there was a slight interval, and again it began, and these showers kept coming and going from the north and north-west until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Then the wind changed to west and south-west, and the clouds in huge dark masses rolled quickly across the aky, the rain in the meantime coming down in drenching showers. The lightning played ominously, and the crashing sound of the thunder was terrific. At Sandhurst the rain came down in one sheet' of water, and covered the streets in a short time, the roadways soon becoming undistinguishable from the gutters. The amount that fell may be guessed from the fact that in a space of about seven minutes 0*76, or three-quarters of an inch, fell. The Independent office was almost swamped, and the cellars v of several other buildings were in danger, but the fortunate" clearing-off of the ruin so quietly saved the town from a very great loss.

AtEpsotn a fierce whirlwind came careering alonj. -from the ' north-west 'about. 4 o'clock J in the afternoon,, and just when the change took place in the direction of the^wind 1 and rain, the whirling monster came roaring up as a spiral cloud of dark bluish-black color, and viewed from the distance of a mi)e it appeared about 100 yards in diameter, the bottom touching the earth, and the top lost in the clouds. An immense deal of damage was done to roofs, trees, fences, and even to animals, many fowls being whirled into the air and killed. A stable belonging to a man named Hewitt, and the horse inside, were lifted clean away and. Tolled along the ground for 100 yards, the .timber of the stable being scattered hither and thither, and the horse killed. Several persons who were travelling in car|i9 and on foot were also caught by the furious blast and more or less injured ; in some instances vehicles with, horses in them being blown clean over, and their occupants drifted along the road v cMany trees were torn up, and houses, unroofed. At Huntlyaterrible catastrophe happened. About 6 o'clock intelligence reached Sandhtir|}; that'a boy had been struck dead by the lightning, and another paralysed or seriously injured. It appears that five children, three belonging to Mr Moore, butcher, Pennyweight, and two to Mr Brown, were returning home from the Church of England school, and when near the Catherine Reef hotel, walking abreast, the electric fluid struck Mr Moore's, eldest son, and killed the unfortunate lad instantaneously. The back of the poor lad!s head was singed, and his back burned, the electric fluid entering the. ground at the lad's feet, and tearing away the heels of his shoes. One of Mr Brown's boys was very seriously injured, and it is questionable if he will recover. The other three boys were not much hxict,- except .that they suffered somewhat severely from the shock. The boys were attended by Drs. Atkinson and Keiran ; the dead body of young Moore being conveyed to his father's residence, where it awaits an inquest. The sad event created considerable interest in Eaglehawk and Sandhurst, where the feeling was one of general commiseratkm with the parents of the youth so suddenly snatched away iv so awful and unusual a manner.

■••••■ CASTLEMAINE. The M. A, Mail says : — " A hailstorm of great violence broke over the town on ■Wednesday, afternoon. In a few minutes thestreets were covered with lumps of ice of different shapes. After the storm had sufficiently abated to allow of any one to venture out ■of doors, it was-easy to pick up pieces of ice of the size of hens' eggs. / "The market-house windows and iho3e of ' private individuals suffered severely. In the Catholic Church eighty panes of glass were brokeu, and in the -Primitive Methodist Church forty. In other churches and houses many windows were broken. In fact, in every part of the town, the destruction of glass was very great. Fortunately, the wind ' was not high at the time of the shower, or all the windows facing the north and west would have been wholly demolished. The almond trees have again been unfortunate. Last year the high winds stripped them of their blossoms ; the storm of Wednesday has clone similar mischief. The storctti was accompanied by heavy thunder and vivid flashes of lightning. The barometer was lower than for any previous day during twelve months. The phenomena of a hailstorm has not been witnessed on such a scale by any white man in thiß part of the colony." GEELONG. According to the Advertiwr, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon a heavy thunderstorm broke over the town from the north-west; the rain and hail came down in torrents, I the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed. The channels soon be«an to run over, and pedestrians, were to be seen everywhere rushing to the nearest shelter. The night before had been clear and cold, but the number of meteor* which flashed across the sky, rendered almost invisible by *he peculiar state of the atmosphere, showed that the weather was still far from settled. Between 3 and 4 o'clock the barometer in the harbor office fell as low as 2926, or Jpwer th.an it has been known for fourteen years. DAYLESFORI), The storm here was terrific initsdegtructive violence. The account in the

Mercury is to the effect that a stiff beeeze from the north was accompanied by very heavy showers and a thick mist. The barometer had fallen very low, and everything protended some extraordinary commotion in the atmosphere. Suddenly, about half-past three — as nearly as possible the same time as the storm of 1867 broke upon vs — the atmosphere became almost dark enough to require artificial light, a torrent of hail descended, forked lightning darted from ominous clouds

overhead, and above the deafening roar of stones on a hundred roofs was heard the I booming of Heaven's artillery. Presently, something thick as a cloud of dust rushed up Vincent street from the north, and a heavy cart belonging to. a man named Trewren was overturned like a straw, and the frightened animal left kicking on the ground. Immediately the balcony of the Manchester hotel was wrenched off, and with the brick parapet and part of second storey, dashed a heap of rubbish into the roadway. Several windows and verandahs were blown in or torn to pieces ; and the house of Mr Wright, a chemist, was actually destroyed, the rouf and sides being blown in. At this moment sheets of corrugated iron and zinc, shingles, and even planks of wood were flying through the air in all directions, and the only wonder is that no one was injured, or even killed by these dangerous missiles. But these, we are sorry to say, were the minor evils of the storm. The Catholic school-room, a wooden building, 50ft or COft long, was struck by the wind or the lightning, and crumbled into a heap of splintered timbers. Happily, though the schoolmaster and a teacher were inside at the time, they made their escape unhurt, and there is cause for greater thankfulness in the fact that the children had been dismissed beforo the squall. A more unfortunate event even than the demolition of this school-room was the partial destruction of that attached to Christ Church, known as Common School, No. 190. This was a solid brick structure, very well adapted to the purpose, and cost several hundred pounds. The transept, that escaped the gale of 1867, is now a mass of ruins, while the western half of the building which then fell in is now spared. But we have yet the worst calamity to relate, and •that is, that Christ Clnirch— an edifice which altogether has dost between L4OOO and L6OO0 — has been seriously damaged. When the hailstorm commenced, the contractor (Mr Clayfield) with three other men, engaged in finishing the porch at the north-western corner, retired into it to escape the fury of the storm. The outer door unfortunately not being up, the wind rushed into the porch with irresistible force, flung them against the inner door, and then on to the church floor. Immediately af tetvm'ds they were astonished to see the eastern portion of the roof burst out from the inside, and then sink down again with a tremendous report At the same time the lead ridging, but lately laid in cement, was torn up from end to end. We may add that an immense tree in front of Christ Church, sft. or 6ft. thick, was blown down at the same time, but happily fell in the opposite direction to the pressure of the wind, or the front of the edifice would have been completely crushed. Thtre is scarcely a house in the borough that has not suffered to some extent by the great hailstorm of 1870, and we trust it will be many years before we shall be exposed to another one like it. Had not the- children in the two demolished common schools been dismissed about half an hour before the disaster, the town would have been plunged into mourning.