WHIRLWIND NEAR HOSPITAL

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 72, 19 August 1938, Page 3

WHIRLWIND NEAR HOSPITAL

BARN BADLY DAMAGED SEVERAL PROPERTIES VISITED A whirlwind of considerable intensity visited several properties on the hospital hill just beyond the Opotiki Hospital at about 1.30 : o'clock on Wednesday afternoon. Fortunately the path of the storm did not pass across, the wooden buildings of the hospital, otherwise further damage may have resulted.

A large barn which is used as a car shed and a milking shed on Mrs G. T. Guide’s property received the full force of the gale, and the carshed portion of the building uuis completely. carried away. It was fortunate that the car was parked: by the side of the house at the time.

Sheets of iron were torn off the roof of the shed and some were deposited on trees nearby, while others were carried across the road and fell on the front lawn of Mr C. Cave’s property. Branches of a large pine tuee on Mrs Guide’s property were also torn off, an apple tree knocked down,' and a hen house demolished.

The car drive on Mr Cave’s property was completely blocked with broken branches of trees, while a large pine tree with a trunk 18 inches in diameter was snapped; off like a carrot about eight feet from the ground and hurled thirty feet. Branches of this tree were torn off and thrown in all directions. A summer house was also wrecked. As the whirlwind continued on its course, it was seen by Mr J. "Woodside who states that sheets of iron and wreckage were carried high into the air. Sheets of iron were lifted off Mr McMillan’s hay-stack and deposited on Mr Briggs’ property. -Mrs Briggs states that the force of the gale struck the southern side of her house Init when she looked out of the windows facing the north, she saw sheets of iron floating in from that direction. The roar 'of the gale was terrific and could be heard some time before the storm actually broke on the hill.