Deluge of Tee

Hokitika Guardian, 23 December 1921, Page 1

Deluge of Tee

SYDNEY. Dec. 11. !.caving devastation in its wake, an unprecedented hail-st-mm has just passed over the north-western district ol New South Wales. So ton-die was if. force that fcrebs were split tike matchwood . Ab Kelvin, in the Gnnnedah district, the storm reached the full strength of i ty. Nothing <A the kind has been seen or heard of before. The hail-stones arc described as falling blocks of ice, and tho noise was deafening, ft. was I" tied unto blue metal metal being; showered on the house tops from a great height. Fowls, rabbits, birds. ! animals of aW kinds lay about, dead jo hundred*. A farmer’s wife had more than a hundred turkeys for the Christmas market Of (his number onlv three remain alive. Numbers of pigs wore amongst the slain. Residents who had ihe misfortune nut to lie under cover were badly bruised by the falling hail. Stock was almost driven mad. and in their frantic efforts to escape the animals raced Imto wire I’otiros, in many cases with disastrous results. The loss in this area alone is estimated at over CIO,OOP. Most of the farmers are uninsured. fn the Btian Bay district the farmers have lost practically everything. Boggahri fared even worse. Here hail was packed up on the verandahs in places it font high. The Commercial Hotel was unroofed. One selector had 300 acres of wheat ready for stripping, with prospects of a nine-bag yield. He will not harvest at hag. Many others suffered similarly.