STORM IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 868, 21 July 1910, Page 3

STORM IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

GREAT DAMAGE IN SYDNEY. BUILDINGS WRECKED. Sydney, July 19. Yesterday’s storm was the strongest in the memory of the oldest inhabitant, some of the gusts of wind travelling at the rate of 80 miles an hour. Hundreds of umbrellas were turned inside out, and there are great piles of them in the gutters. At the different corners many buildings were unroofed, and otherwise damaged. A lady in North Sydney had a miraculous escape. She was lying on a sick bed when the whole of the chimney, with part of the roof, fell on her bed. She was injured, but not seriously. Another chimney fell between a man and his son, who were a few feet apart. Neither was touched. Along the coast seas are tremendous, and shipping is sheltering in all the ports. It is worse than the big gale in 1904. Owing to snow in the Blue Mountains the railway service is disorganised. It is reported that several railway engines have been derailed, but owing to the breaking of the telegraph lines details are not available. It is learned, however, that there is over four feet of snow on the track in many places. By this morning the storm had abated and the rain cleared, but the weather is very cold. The abatement of the storm was only temporary. At ten o’clock the rain again poured down on the city streets, converting them into sheets of water.

The low-lying suburbs are partly submerged, and residents are moving from them. The telephone and telegraph wires are down, and Sydney is almost isolated. ge Details of the dama are slowly coming to hand. At Coogee the ladies’ baths were partially washed away. Mrs Bassett, the keeper, who lived on the premises, is now missing.

At Kensington, a pony in a paddock was blown over, and almost buried in sand. The animal had to be dug out.

At Bondi two ladies were blown over and rolled along the beach. One regained her feet, but had her skirt torn off by the gale. Both then lay flat, and waited for assistance, which was rendered with great difficulty. The Paddington Town Hall, a large and substantial building was partly unroofed, and a children’s dance broken up. At Mosman a cab was blown over, and the driver’s arm fractured. North Sydney, Neutral Bay, and the high suburbs, were fully exposed to the force of the wind, and everything movable changed its location. Trees forty feet high were uprooted and carried several yards, and the roof of a house was hurled against a butcher’s establishment, completely wrecking it. A brick Church of England, only recently completed, had one of its main walls blown in, and was unroofed. At Willoughby the Congregational Church was lifted off its piles and badly smashed.

REMARKABLE OCCURRENCE AT KATOOMBA*. Sydney, July 19. The gale uprooted and smashed trees in all directions, and destroyed many telegraph poles, telegraph lines in some cases are down for long distances. The telephone services are badly disorganised, and a great number of subscribers are cut off. Repairers are at work everywhere. At Katoomba 80 telephones

were fused during an electrical disturbance. COLLISION IN HARBOUR. Sydney, July 19. At the height of the blow today the steamer Hunter (1840 tons), of Newcastle and Hunter River line, was blown against the Huddart-Parker liner Wimmera, slightly damaging her bulwarks. The Nepean River is in high flood, and a large area is inundated ( The residents on the flats are moving to higher grounds. The rain lias stopped, but the weather is still unsettled and the sea rough. The mountain lines have been cleared of snow and trains are running. The telegraph lines are being slowly restored to working order, but many stations are still cut out and all news is many horns behind. Traffic on the Camden line has been suspended owing to the flood in the Nepean River.