BRISBANE'S CYCLONIC STORM

Hokitika Guardian, 6 November 1920, Page 4

BRISBANE'S CYCLONIC STORM

i 1 SOME TERRIFYING EXPERIENCES , i SYDNEY, October 26. . | Two or three times every year the ’ North of Queensland is visited by vioJ lent cyclonic storms, which are fre--1 quently attended by great,damage and ; loss of life. But the southern part of j the State is generally free. One such i visitation, however, struck Brisbane on • Sunday, and the people there arc not I likely "to forget the experience. t j Various platleglass windows m the i. shopping area were demolished by tlie )' fierce wind. Chimneys were torn down i .and the roofs of the Government pnnti ino- office and the Colonial Sugar Rer j fining Co.’s big factory were swept l Tone man was killed.' The Hidden, • sharp storm caught a small party of : 1 men who were playing cricket, and ■ ' they foolishly rushed for shelter under I 1 some trees. Tlie trees were struck by C ' lightning and one of the young men was • killed instantly. Another was struck bv the electric fluid and paralysed. Ho • j lost the use of his. legs for some hours, ! but eventually recovered. f Forty' children, were gathered m a i hall, attending Sunday School, m one ; of the suburbs. The hall was flimsily > ibuilt on the high piles by which Qneens- - landers strive to keep the übiquitous ant at bay. The sudden gale lifted j one end of this building bigh up. shook . it, and dumped it down again. When i it fell, most of the jiiles burst through - the floor and it partly collapsed. The ; confusion and terror among, the chil- . dren were beyond, description—yet, marvellous to relate, they all escaped > serious injury. , Here is a typical experience. The ; house of a man living in the suburbs was unroofed by the first mad burst of wind. The torrential rain which followed immediately flooded the rooms and one of the ■walls collapsed. A thousand gallon tank from a nearby house was thrown from its stand and went . (bumping and banging down the sloping I street. Just outside the house, lightning struck the overhead electric cables [ ini the street, and zigzagged along them, snapping three . The falling wire became entanged with a horse and cart belonging to a milkman, and the turnout was upset and badly damaged. A covered-in railway truck in the vicinity was blown off the rails. The period of the storm was brief, but it may 'be regarded as having been sufficiently exciting.