STRUCK BY A BLIZZARD

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8354, 14 February 1913, Page 10

STRUCK BY A BLIZZARD

HOUSES UNROOFED. Press Association. INVERCARGILL, February 18. • A gale blew all day on 'Wednesday, and developed into a blizzard to-day, a violent wind being accompanied by occasional downpours of ram and hail. A considerable amount of damage was done. , The stays of the large wooden condenser at the tramway powerhouse were detached, and it was feared that the structure would he wrecked. A large wool-drying shed near Wallaoetown, four stories high, just nearing completion, was demolished. Minor damage, such as broken windows and partially unroofed premises, was not uncommon in "town. The gale moderated in tne evening, but the weather is still unpleasant. DUNEDIN SUFFERS. ’ DUNEDIN. February 13. The weather changed somewhat sud» denly this morning, and after a ramber of showers had fallen a heavy gale set in, accompanied by ram. I Jus raged for about two hours, but the weather afterwards cleared, though it remained cold. The gale extended to Central Otago, and at Clyde it did considerable damage to fruit crops, particularly apples and pears, which have fallen heavily. Numbers of tree* bavo been practically destroyed. IN SOUTH CANTERBURY. TIMARU, February 13. A north-west gale set in about 9 a.m.» and blew very hard for about two or three hours, and steadily throughout the afternoon, when the wind changed, to the south. Great damage has been done in the harvest fields, where standing ripe grain has been badly threshed, stooks have been scattered, tops of stacks ripped off, and trees destroyed and broken. Up the lairhe line much miner damage has been cone* many sheds being unroofed. At Fairlie two chimneys fell through the roofs, one in the Fairlio Hotel and the other one in the Catholic Presbytery. At Winscombe the railway station shelter was shifted and capsized. At Albury the kitchen ganger’s house was wrecked by a chimney falling through the roof. A blacksmith’s shop was partially demolished, and the verandah of the Presbyterian manse was torn off. A hole was in the roof of the goods-shed at Pleasant Point. Orchards have been heavily stripped of fruit. No material damage is reported in Timaru. but some trees and old fences are down. One tree in the park was snapped off close to the ground in the afternoon, when halt a dozen people watching a cricket match were on the seats round the trunk. All escaped, except Val Scott, a youth, who was pinned down by the branch, which had to be cut to release him. He was taken to the hospital, having had a broken thigh. At the height of the gale a fire broke out in an outhouse in Fairlie, and, but for the prompt attention by a bucket brigade of men who happened to be on the spot, a number of wooden shops must have gone. In the evening a four-roomed house a mile and a half from Fairlie and the contents were completely destroyed in the temporary absence of the occupants, a daughter and son-in-law of the Manaton hotelkeeper, to whom" the place belonged. The house was insured in the Atlas office.