TERRIFIC STORMS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 June 1931, Page 5

TERRIFIC STORMS

OVER ENGLAND. MANY HOUSES WRECKED AND SWAMPED. (Unitea Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright .) LONDON, June 14. Following a lieat wa\e, severe st rms , hurst out in \arious par.s of England. The Severn River rose seven leet at Cheltenham, inundating hundreds oi houses. There were streets flooded in Blackpool where the tramways were suspended. During the height of the thunderstorm at Leeds, a fiery ball was seen in the sky. It was followed by a . peal of thunder which shook the g • • # ho«ses. The storms missed London. The storms were of the most intense nature in the Midlands, and in the North of England. They were preceded by remarkable falls in the barometer. An official at the Birmingham Observatory stated that the barometer variations were the greatest that he ever remembered.

V/RECKAGE IN TOWNS. LIKE WAR-TIME SCENE LONDON, June 15. One was killed and ten were injured when a whirlwind struck Birmingham. It uprooted hundreds of trees, also lifting the roofs and chimneys bedily and breaking fences and windows. One elderly woman, who was sheltering from a terrific thunderstorm which preceded the. whirlwind was killed by falling debris when the tops of two houses were demolished. The full force ;of the wind was felt at Sparkhill, where it hurst pn a row of twelve houses, lifting off the roofs and tumbling masses of bricks into the bedrooms.

A woman and her baby in bed had a remarkable escape when her bed and other furniture disappeared beneath a load of masonry. Lightning struck two houses, tearing out the fireplace, and bursting the walls.

The streets resembled a war-time scene in France after gunfire. Several families were rendered homeless.

A TRACK OF RUIN. LONDON, June 15. The “Daily Mail” says:—Although the whirlwind’s track of ruin was only a few hundred yards wide the damage is estimated at thousands sterling.

At Smallheath Park fences were Wrecked, nnd outbuildings were -liitrled down like a pack of curds. Almost every tree in the Park Tvas levelled, many, of them being oaks and elms a contury w l)Jd, - " '•»

The whirlwind supports' the scientists’ theory that the English climate js changing.

STORM IN FRANCE PARIS, June r 3. The same storm that sank the “St Philbert” caused a motor-car *“ to be blown into the canal at Dunkirk, when two were drowned. V PLANE WRECKED. LONDON,, June 15. A British private monoplane was caught in the whirlwind' at Verneilu. It crashed on fire, and the pilot named. Brock, also a passnger, James Robertson, were killed instantly. FLOODS IN AUSTRIA. PARIS, June 15. The river overflowed at Vienna City, flooring some houses, five of the inmates being drowned.