TRAIL OF RUIN

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 336, 24 September 1932, Page 5

TRAIL OF RUIN

(Press Assn.-

TERRJFIC TORNADO CH.URCH AND HOUSES IN GYMPIE RAZEI) TO GROUND COMMUNICATIONS SEVERED

— By Telegraph — Copyrlght)

Brisbane, Sept. 23. A tornado tore across the outskirts of Gympie, leaviug a trail of chaotic ruin. The Roman Catholic Church was lifted ten feet ifito the air, and crashed in a mass of wreckage. Railway trucks, weighing about 20 tons, were swept o!f the rails. Petrol drums containing 50 gallons of oil were carried 40 yards away by the wind. In the One Mile district several families managed to hurry from their homes as they were torn down lilte car(lboard. The roads throughout the- district; were strewn with uprooted trees. ■ Hundreds of sheets of galvanised; iron were carried miles. Tlie strange vagaries of the storm were demonstrated by the fact that while the houses on one s...„ of a street were demolished, those on the othr side were unscathed. The damage to houses, shops, etc.,, is estimated at £10,000. All the telephone and electric light wiras were broken and lcnotted. Two houses at Carlton Hill were lifted bodily and deposited two chains away. The occupants of one suft'ered a severe shock. No loss of life has been reported but a number of injured were treated for injuries by fiying debris. A heavy hailstorm, following the tornado, ruined the erops. Gympie is situated on the Mary Iiiver and has a population of nearly 13,000. It is a eentre of the gold, silver, copper, antimony and eoal mining districts.