FEARFUL TORNADO IN CANTON.

Kumara Times, Issue 591, 19 August 1878, Page 2

FEARFUL TORNADO IN CANTON.

LOSS OF TEN THOUSAND LIVES,

Details are given in the Hong Kong Daily Press of the destruction' caused by a tornado which passed over Canton in April. It first caught fitessrs Russel’s house, lately occupied bjt;-the-Ger-man Consulate, taking off the' ro’bf and greatly damaging the walls. The flagstaff was blown clowii, and furnished an indication of the enormous strength of the wind. The staff, which could offer M comparatively little resistance to the wind, was stayed in the usual way to riug-ho ! ts sunk into granite stones set iii the ground. It was blown - down almost 'o the ground (resting only oh the branches ot a tree) and it had‘ torn up t'r on the grDund the granite stones,into which the ring-bohs tyere set. . 'The next house caught'wai. 1 l Mfs Gopp’s. Here also the roof, was takeu l; p|f the west wall fell outwards, and .tHe'graatpr part of the furniture was diestihyM. A tree 22in. in standing some 20 yards in front of the house was twisted off a- foot mi twoia.bo.yp.thel and

thrown like a battering ram against the verandah. The destruction of trees lias j been very great. A hundred and fifty- I ' four trees were either torn up hy the roots or broken off, just above the c while 52, of which the trunks ] were left standing, were completely de- ] nuded of their branches. Passing over the Shanieem settlement, the storm crossed the canal to the city, carrying away in its course the baliistrading of the Past Bridge. A native policestation opposite was also completely destroyed. The storm levelled all the houses in its course, making a clean sweep fit everything for a width of . about .6)30 feet. The mortality has ( been variously estimated at from 5,000 to 10,000, and probably the latter number is nearer the mark. Nine thousand ’ houses (speaking in round numbers) are known to have been destroyed ;; and although many of the inmates had notice of the impending disaster by hearing the noise caused ; by other houses filling, and made their escape, there were other cases in which great numbers of people were killed by the fall of a single house. In the canal more than 100 dead bodies . have been found, and the sights are ; really sickening. It appears that about I twenty streets of houses have been i completely swept away, besides a number that were pulled down to stop the course of the great fires which broke out soon after the storm. About a " ; score of the robbers who had gathered ; . together to loot the houses were cap- i tured and handed over to the author!-; ties, but the majority escaped with ' their plunder. The Viceroy, in re- ■■ sponse to a request to that effect from ! the British Consul, sent 100 soldiers to protect Whameen. [ In concluding his account of the! catastrophe, the reporter of the Daily ! . Press., writes from Canton :—“lb is said that 1,500 houses have been destroyed and upwards of 1,000 boats wrecked. Some of my native friends compute, the. loss/ of life ashore - and , : afloat at more than 10,000, but I sin-1 ' cer ; ely hope that this is an exaggeration. I Thete seems no doubt, however, that ■ * the dead’ are to he numbered by the i thousand, -instead of by the hundred . as was at first supposed. The scene • along the track of the tornado is sad : .and disheartening.” j