VICTORIA RAKED BY SOME GALE AND TORNADO

Grey River Argus, 7 September 1948, Page 5

VICTORIA RAKED BY SOME GALE AND TORNADO

People Killed And Injured (Received September* 6, 9.0 p.m.) MELBOURNE, September 6. Victoria, including its cities and towns, has to-day been swept by violent westerly winds, reaching ninety miles an hour. The gales are leaving a trail of damage through Melbourne and in other parts of the State. The country and nretropolitan railway services have been disrupted, and two radio masts were torn from city roofs. A worker in the Government-opei*-ated Yallourn open-cast coal mine was killed instantly when a 400-ton spreader toppled over on him. The casualty list due to gales in Victoria to-day is now two killed and eight injured. While Melbourne City counted up its toll of unroofed houses, wrecked sheds, flattened hoardings, and broken windows, and took precautions against ,the gale, which was still blowing at full strength under sunny skies, the Weather Bureau issued a forecast with a classic understatement: “Boisterous winds.” GEELONG TORNADO'

Geelong reported a tornado which inflicted damage, and during which a milkman was critically injured when his horse bolted. There have been fifty tombstones flattened in the Geelong cemetery. During the gales, a tree, 130 feet high, fell on a bush shelter at Mount Bogong, in the Victorian Alps. One man was killed, and six were injured. This accident occurred while the men, who were working on an Electricity Commission job, were having afternoon tea. The railways over a wide area were thrown off the schedule, with trees, hoardings, and level crossing signs blown across the permanent way. Telephone and telegraphic systems were incapacitated, and station buildings damaged. LIONS ESCAPE FROM ZOO

Three lions escaped from the Melbourne Zoo when a falling tree tore out one side of their cage. Fortunately the lions were aged only six months, and they were found bewildered, . and wandering aimlessly, nearby.

Hurricane Kills More Than 80 In North of Italy (Rec. 11.50). MILAN, Sept. 6. . (N.Z.P.A.—Reuter). More than eighty people are reported dead following on a hurricane in Northern Italy on Saturday. There was considerable damage, especially in the Piedmont Province.