PORT OF BRISBANE CLOSED BY CYCLONE

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5311, 25 January 1947, Page 5

PORT OF BRISBANE CLOSED BY CYCLONE

( Press Assn.-

n.s.w flood warnings ^ n.z. schooner tagua reported safe

—Rec. 9.80 p.m.)

SYDNEY, Jan. 24. The cyclone that is moving • outh has closed the Port of 7-risbane, stopped air traffic be-1-ween Brisbane and Sydney and has brought exceptionally heavy 1 ain and gales on the far north coast of New South Wales. Nineteen towns in N.S.W. have reported temperatures of over the rentury within the past 24 hours, the highest being 114 at rvanhoe. At Murwillumhab four biches of rain fell in six hours. The cyclone warnings have sent ships into shelter along hundreds of miles of the coastline. The auxilij ary schooner, Tagua, en route from | the Solomons to New Zealand has j been reliably reported as shelter- | ing in Hervey Bay, after a long j battle with heavy seas.

i When it closed its port, Brisbane j was the centre of the cyclone which I missed the city and travelled south at j 10 miles an hour. The winds reached i 50 miles an hour, and over three j inches of rain fell. I Roads and iTelds wei*e fiooded and j many campers were forced to abandon | Iheir tents and belongings. . At the j seaside resort of Southport 50 tents j were destroyed. Other seaside towns j suffered damage when buildings were j vnroofed and caravans blown over. While inland and the southern part I of New South Wales swelters in a j heat wave flood warnings have been j issued to towns along the northem j "ivers. j A Sydney weather lmreau official j says that the usual traek of cyclones J is from Noumea across to the jQueens1 land coast, and then down the north I "oast of New South Wales. They I rarely come farther south than Lismore, but the present cyclone will cause unsettled weather and heavy -•eas in Sydney. Rain Welcome Relief .After Long Drought SYDNEY, January 24. i Sydney is almost certain to escape 'j the cyclone which lashed the coast of I the far north of the State for nearly | 24 hours, after sweeping past Brisj bane. Inland and coastal northem j towns have had the heaviest rain for | years, bringing urgently-needed relief | from the drought. The cyclone has : now moved 100 miles inland, and is ' expected to peter out. j Heavy seas around Sydney during | i he week-end are expected to attract ! record crowds to the surf beaches.