WIDE DAMAGE CAUSED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26627, 25 November 1947, Page 5

WIDE DAMAGE CAUSED

HAILSTORMS IN QUEENSLAND MAN-POWER MOBILISED FOR REPAIR WORK Rec. 8 p.m. SYDNEY, Nov. 24. The week-end storms caused wide damage in eastern States. Apart from a whirlwind which unroofed houses and brought down a factory chijnney in Wentworthville, a terrific hailstorm broke thousands of windows in Charleville (Queensland) and damaged wheat crops in the Dubbo and Murrumbidgee irrigation areas. Within a few seconds of the hailstorm striking Charleville, thousands of windows were smashed and awnings and Venetian blinds torn to shreds by hailstones the size of hens’ eggs. The town was plunged into darkness. Trees were stripped of their branches, and thousands of poultry were killed. No window was left intact in the new Charleville Hospital or the courthouse. Ten people were injured in Charleville during the hailstorm to-day, which damaged every building in the town. Every available man in the population of 3500 was mobilised for repair work, and nearby towns have .been asked to rush all spare window glass and roofing iron to the damaged area. Every roof of the town’s 750 homes sustained damage, and many were torn off by the 70-mile-an-hour wind. Dead fowls, dogs and cats litter yards and streets. The damage is unofficially estimated at £IOO,OOO.