TERRIFIC GALES.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 January 1930, Page 6

TERRIFIC GALES.

IN SOUTH ENGLAND.

LUnited Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. ] LONDON, Jan. 13. There is a gale sweeping Southern England. It has a maximum velocity of 120 miles per hour, and of 80 miles an hour in the English Channel, where steamers are experiencing the roughest passage. At least two steamers sent out an S.O.S. for lifeboats, including Deal, where a lifeboat was launched for the assistance of the Italian steamer Liana, which has been burning distress flares off the'South Goodwins.

A Walnter lifeboat previously capsized while being launched to go to this ship’s assistance, but it had no casualties.

The seas ate so heavy at Folkestone that the Channel fishing boats were unable to enter the harbour, and were diverted to Dover.

A hoy was blown, off the Ramsgate Pier, and was drowned. The inland districts have also had one of the wildest nights in living memory. Many trees and telegraph poles have been blown down, blocking it number of roads in the South of England, and holding up motoring. A woman was killed by a falling tree at Mttswell Hill, while another tree crashed on a charabanc at Kingston, injuring five persons. Railway traffic is interrupted in some places, and the telephones and telegraphs are disorganised.