DESTRUCTIVE WHIRLWIND.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1153, 9 April 1872, Page 2

DESTRUCTIVE WHIRLWIND.

Greymouth arid' its inhabitants have ' become accustomed to visitations; froini floods and fires, but the latest novelty in' the shape of destructive visitations was a whirlwind of immense force, which ciif' a straight course through the outskirts of., the town, damaging more or less every building in ilis way. During 'the terrific storm which visited the town on Sunday night— one of • the most severe thaV has beehexperienced'ioryearsV-a'wliirlwind came in from the sea at a point somewhat, about west, first levelled the kerosene:' store, belonging to Mr Joyce, then struck with fury the back of the row.of cottages standing in .Arney.street, between ,^the Catholic Ohurcirahd Gwlsson^'treet,' 'tear- . ing off roofs, verandahs, chimneys,. &p., indiscriminately. The current of^.tgindj; appears to have been fortunately narrow, ' a .chain wide, and the. clear course, which it cut through: the buildings was traceable; in the morning by the quantity of debris that was scattered around; J'ln Arney street it tore the large -iron cross-offWthe,, Roman Catholic f iChurch, injured Mr Dupre's verandah, carried away completely the ropf from Mr Taylor/s^kitchenj , besides smashing the verandah and; all the. surrounding fencing: <; The next cottage was occupied, by . Mr, ; , Honan,,-, Catholic schbb'lmasterl .The roof had originally been shingled and- afterwards covered, with iron. The iron was all torn off, and [the old roof smashed inasifjit hadibeen-. out along the ■< ridge-pole by an axe. In the next cottage, occupied by Mr North, the wind burst in the back-door and blew .the occupants' clothes out by the.. front, very' much damaging lih'e building. K-Next-,tp this jis the two-storey cottage, occupied by Inspector Hicksbh,' in which' two brick chimneys were blowh'down, and the roof of the back roonrcarried away. The whirl•wind then rushed across , the police .paddock, bursting open^the. door and windows of the Resident Majjistrate's office. The, force of the gate may be judgedJrom the fact that'it tore the screws the lock out of the woodwork, and they^ere lound. scattered on' the ; fioor in the morning. The police stable was twisted, the prisoners' cells' 1 were lifted bodily about a foot, the fence in the prisoners' iyard blown out, and the fence at Constable Flannagan's ' private house, across Johnston's street, (utterly destroyed. ; : The gale then took its way across the open space in Boundary street, and struck with all its fury against the large, timb,ei?,yardof Messrs Watson : and Wickes, , .which, in a; moment it reduced to: a heap of. i ruins.' The large iron -roof of this building* measured 30ft in the centre span, and two lean-tos of 18ft 'each, making' a tofeFspan of 66ft, was carried completely ayfay, and about' two ! t6ris ! df *iron has utterly disappeared. The gale struck the building at an angle, levelling the upper side wall, at which it must have burst out, and leaving, the lower/ gable; standing.' The gale then crossed Herbert street,' levelled the fence of Mr Drewtegardenputcerly obliterated the:stable*o&Mr Jones, baker, leaving only the horse behind, then lifted the cottage occupied by-Miss ReVpl in Hospital: street off its piles; carried the,; roof off both, rooms .completely away, leaving it a complete wreck. The occupants were rescued with difficulty. The , next cottage it.attacked was MrHardy's, ' through the side of which it sent a sheet .of i iron, .which .» cut* as clean asa knife through an iron chimney, >the'oweather■board- wall, canvas, paper,- and- a- large framed picture, , landing on the parlor table. If this had encountered any human being it must have! cut themfelean in two. The roof and verandah (of Mr Hardy's cottage were also .much damaged./ ,The course, of the whirlwind, appeared then to have been to cross Hospital street, to break a few panes of glass in the large stained window .of . the Presbyterian Church, and make a a wholesale sweep of the cottage verandahs and chimneys, until it' reached Mr Abraham's Duke of Edin-burgh-Hotel} at! jfche junction: jof Hospital and Albert streets, round which it swept ityith.much fury^ completely demoUshing the verandah, lamp, &c, the back kitchen and brick chimney, and other outhquses. Ifc then struck across to tile large building occupied by Mr Wilson as a boat-building' shed, 'lifting a 'large quantity of iron off the, roof and sides, and completely dempf-' lishirig the second storey of tHe_ l adjoining . building, "which wasin course of erection by MrJWilson; 1 After doing some injury to the roof of Mr Brimble's stable, the . whirlwind struck across the Tidal|Creek, and ; overturned - the - tramway carriage standing on the line in Tainui street. It must now have spent its force, as no damage was done to the Wesleyan Church, 'and a few sheets ; of iron only were lifted frdm the roof of the Manse ad jouiing. The gale would then pass into the 'bush and expend itself. " ' The whol^iSair only lißiteTafewfsißcond^ra^'&bse'wlio'Kved close to where'th*e ! t6rhMdo passed describe che noise caused by it and the crashing of buildings as something awful in tKe^pitehy ; dark night. The fortunate thing is that 1 the, :whirlwin(J did. not strike; the front' street, otherwise the . destruction would, have been fearful. , Another whirlwind of immense force struck! the house, dccupied' by ; Mx Body, ; near ; tifie^Australasian Hoiel, about halt; past-ten.o'clock the samenight, and after lifting it up and, shaking it in an alarming manner dropped it again on the piles, ;■ ; shif ting it only about ■ ppe inch, yAt j the ; same time it tore an enormous rata tree; ; growing -at .. Mt Rody's jfence, uout.by! the 1 roots, :: and dropped' it in close proximity to the 'house. Strange to say," the same whirlwind was not heatd n or t felt' atjthe Hotel.JV li- . i "•