Cyclonic Storm.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 89, 21 March 1916, Page 4

Cyclonic Storm.

Great Wind visits Stratford. CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE RESULTS. * TOWN’S NARROW ESCAPE FROM DISASTER. What is in all probability the most extraordinary storm effect to have yet been felt in this part of Die Dominion struck St’-atford at 6 .5 a.m. to-day when residents near the racecourse and along the line of Ariel Street, were alarmed at a loud booming noise like the sound of mighty rushing waters. Those who looked out of their window.; m. . r terrifying black cloud coming'from the direction of the racecourse, and one man —the only one so far as can be ascertained to ho on file road right in the track o*' '*e cycler''—thought his last mourn e - r l arrhod. Hurled from his well laden cart he was unable to. see anything until the wind had passed and then discovered that his frightened horse had bolted. The visitation was of course, of sn'eh rapidity and passed so quickly that those who had not risen from their couches had hardly time to do so before the storm had swept on into space. In the immediate track of the cyclone much damage has been done and the wonder really is that it is not greater. Probably Ariel Street acted somewhat as a runnel . through which the great wind rushed!, and though houses on both sides suffered, chimneys toppling over, fences being torn down and great limbs being torn off trees by the wayside it is remarkable to note that no one received any serious injury, though necessarily some of the inmates of those dwellings which sustained damage are ’ suffering from shock. The weather had not been especially boisterous prior to the disturbance now referred to, but an ordinarily showery night and morning. Since the cyclone the weather has been decidely squally. It is easy to conceive that had the blast struck Stratford at another angle it might have been a positive disaster and in addition to the much more extensive damage to property, loss of life would almost certainly have resulted.

IN THE TRACK OF THE STORM. AN OBSERVER’S STORY. “Observer” writes : I was early astir this morning, and noticing in the lowering nature of the heavens the approach of a storm I went round the house to shut the French windows, which had been left open all night owing to the closeness of the atmosphere indoors. Hearing a peculiar noise, I looked round and saw a haystack being hurled high into the air, and then a fence w’diich was in a direct line went

1 down in a trice. This was in the direction of the racecourse, and subsequent investigation showed that the cyclone had started in the bush, cutting a path for itself till it was free. Then Miscall’s was visited, and sweeping aside such a little thing as a fence, the now mad Boreas leaped into McLean’s and then Ford’s, in the latter place tearing through the house and bursting the French windows open. This was in Ariel Street, but leaving the past to pick itself up. he crossed into a paddock at Sharrock’s; then he hopped hack again to Ariel Street and lifted Mrs Smith’s roof half off. letting daylight into the awe-struck sleepers

lin their beds. But in the V ictoria | Park on the opposite side of Regan j Street, there was plenty of room to j expend some of his pent-up fury. Soon the croquet pavilion was lying j on its side, and the wire-netting and telegraph and electric wires were mere playthings in the monster’s hands. Tiring of such frivolities, a rush was made for the Fire Brigade stand and in less than no time the work of weeks was non est, the structure being gathered like a football and punted far afield; one of the seats found a resting place in the lagoon, and a hydrant

was bent, if not into unrecognisable, at any rate into most unserviceable shapes. Sweeping diagonally to the corner of the Park, an exit was made at Fenton and Cordelia Streets, where some of the big pine trees afforded scope for an exhibition of dexterity, which was tiie work of seconds only. From here the direction taken by the boisterous visitor was noticeable at Wright’s, Thompson’s Burkett’s, Grubb’s, Newton King’s, and away beyond to Tavlor’s on the Warwick Road.

So far as could be seen this morning on going over the ground devastated the damage by the great wind commenced by the levelling of a fence on the road near the racecourse. From thence there is evidence of an undulating movement as well as a forward rush because some objects in the path of the wind have escaped untouched, while others, apparently more firmly planted, are rent and torn as by a giant hand. At Mr J. Sharroch’s house a chimney was torn off and then a number of fences are cut right through. The

current appears to have here taken temporarily a more westerly direcT' tion and deviated to carry away the • side of the roof off Mrs Smith’s house at the corner of Regan and Ariel streets. The back portion of the house was slightly damaged, some of the weather boards being torn adrift from the framework. The cm* rent only caught half of Mrs Smith s house,* but the roof of that portion was carried over to the Recreation Ground. The telephone wires in front of the house were broken and a section of the roof was left suspended from the wires. THE CROQUET CLUB SUFFERS. The Tennis and Croquet . Cluh’:i pavillion, in Victoria Park, appeals to have stood in the direct line of the cyclone and the building was torn off. its foundations and lifted bodily about ten feet from its original site., In the course of that journey it was cap sized and it is now resting floor up ipermost. One door was blown off and carried about ■ a dozen yards, while the rest of the building has been considerably damaged., The croquet balls and other material was scattered far and wide over the Park. Inside the building a tea set was practically ur, damaged, only three pieces being destroyed, while another set which had been carefnlly packed, was smashed to atoms. The verandah posts could he seen fully fifty yards away from the building, and the barge, board actually brought up in some trees in the Park at the corner of Fenton Street about two hundred yards from where the building had originally been placed

PILES HURLED FIFTY YARDS. After passing over the Croquet Club’s pavillion the cyclone appears to have turned almost at right angles and swept the Fire Brigade’s competition stand clean from the piles on which it rested. The piles "were torn out of the ground and hurled a distance of 50 yards. The stand and shed were absolutely demolished and stray timber is all that remains of what ! once was the stand. A considerable quantity of timber . from the stand found a resting place in the lake in Victoria Park. DAMAGE TO THE PARK. The Park at the corner of Cordelia and Fenton Streets suffered considerably, and about a dozen trees were broken off near the ground. One tree trunk, about 2ft. in thickness, was cut in two as if it had been partly cut and then brought down in “a fall.” A great quantity of roofing iron found a resting place among the trees.. Mr Dodd, who lives • in Cordelia Street, and is the Park caretaker, said he haippened to be outside his house at about 6.25, and heard the storm approaching. He had instructed his son to go for the cow, and thinking that a heavy shower of rain was nea l ' told the boy to wait a few moments. The boy returned into the house or bo would have been in the track of the cyclone. Mr Dodd days that to him the storm looked like a huge corkscrew approaching, with A whirl of roofing iron and timber shooting through the air. The wind levelled one fence right in front of his eyes. In passing over his property the cyclone carried away a chminey and effected other damage. Trees and live fences in the Park itself have been torn and broken in an extraordinary fashion. The park was strewed with pieces of timber, roofiing iron, and lengths of hose. ' FENTON STREET CORNER. Mr Cecil Wright’s house on the corner of Fenton and Cordelia streets was damaged to some extent. A number of sheets of iron were blown from the back portion of the house and the skylight was torn off the roof of the bathroom. The back fences were all levelled to the ground. The wmtl found its. way to a quantity of coal which was stacked between the back of the house and a shed and dashed it all over the walls of the building making it appear as though mud had been pelted at the building. The house next to Mr Wright’s on Fenton Street also received the full force of the gale. The kitchen and y scullery chimneys were completely overthrown, and the bricks falling on the porch at the rear of the house did considerable damage. The course of the cyclone altered after passing over Mr Wright’s hogse, a number of trees and a house on the opposite side of Cordelia Street being next to fee) the full force. Limbs were torn off the trees and a number of fences removed bodily. The hoirte occupied by Mr Burkett suffered to a considerable extent, a double chimney in the front being blown down. A piece .'of wood was driven right through the roof and landed in the front bedroom alongside a bed. Luckily no one was injured. A section of the boards nailed on to the piles in front of the verandah was broken about as if somebody had attacked it with an axe. The front fence was badly damaged. A motor shed, which had only been erected a few days previously, was completely blown off its foundation, and portions were scattered in all directions. The framework of the shed appears to have been dashed bodily against MR T. G. GRUBB’S HOUSE, and the framework pierced Mr Grubb’s roof, while the door smashed in the dining-room window. Sundry parts of the framework wore to be seen on Mr Grubb’s lawn and in the fence. Long lengths of the lawn were torn up, having been caught with the flying sheets of iron and lumps of timber. Mr Grubb’s bouse and property appear to have felt the full force of the storm and suffered badly m consequence, Mr Burkett’s shed,

while flying through space, caught a . stack of-timber in Mr Grubb’s yards, lowering it to the ground and.hurling it in all directions, A new wash!house and shed which wore practically completed were caught by the wind, and one end was lifted bodily and carried a distance of about five feet. The end in which the copper was’ set practically, remained stationary. The brick work was destroyed, and what had a few minutes before been avpartially y,completed addition to Mr Grubb’s house, was only a heap of timber and twisted iron. Fortunately, portions of the sides of the new building were intact, and were only blown a few yards away. The wind not only lifted the biulding. but the piles as well, and as an illustration of the weight of the new piece, the piles | were once again embedded in tho ‘ground. The building was ‘24 feet long by 10 feet wide. Mr Grubb is a heavy loser by the unfortunate occurrence. The roof ol the house uas considerably damaged by tho fall of tho kitchen chimney. All the windows, on the north side of the house were broken, and inside the rooms the wind and rain played havoc with furniture and ornaments alike. All the ornaments which were on the dining room mantelpiece were dashed against the wall and smashed to atoms. A new mantelpiece which was standing by the wall was hurled against the piano which was near by. The door of the diningroom leading to the inside passage was torn from the frame. Aconsiderable quantity of debris, in the form of earth, must have been 'carried by the wind, and fodnd access to the inside of Mr Grubb’s house. A piece of timber evidently struck the front portion of the building for a section of one of the windows was broken off. It 1 pretty certain that Mr Grubb is the heaviest individual sufferer. Mrs Grubb, who courteously conducted a member of the “Evening Post,” staff through the house, said the first she heard of the cyclone approaching was the roaming of the wind which awakened her, She thought that it must ho an earthquake, for the force of the wind shook ornaments off the walls and in other ways produced the impression of an earthquake. Mrs J Grubb also said they were having the house enlarged and generally overhauled, and it was not yet out of tho builders’l hands, or their loss would have been very ranch heavier under the circumstances. Mrs Grubb estimates their loss at fully £IOO to £loO. Luckily Mr Burkett did not have his motor car in the garage, he having left it at the repairers last evening. , All that, remained of Mr Burkett’s garage was two planks and a tin of oil. The roof of the garage was found on the river bank at the rear of Mr Newton King’s hide shed. The roof of a verandah attached to a house opposite Mr Burkett’s was completely carried away, and the timber arid iron are posted as ‘‘missing.’

MR NEWTON KING’S HIDE ' SHEDS. At the corner of Cloton Road and Cordelia Street the iron fence on the boundary of Newton King’s yard was blown down, and the telephone wires were all down. A number of the wires were blown over on to one of Newton King’s shed. Much havoc and disorder had been wrought here, and though none of the main buildings had been overthrown, one small store collapsed altogether. A window on the south side of the calfskin shed was torn out of the frame. Hie tallow room door was blown down, and a sheet of iron found refuge inside the shed. A number of sheets of roofiing iron 1 from the sheepskin shed were blown off and carried down to the riv.er, while a few sheets were found in trees on Toko line. The old engine room on the river bank at the rear of the buildings received the full force of the gale, and the top was all askew, though the* structure still rests on its foundation. The yards were littered up with all sorts of debris trom other people’s properties, while Mr Newton King’s iron from his building and planking from the walls ‘was right across the river. Had any person been struck by -a fragment of the tons of heavy material which for five minutes floated through the air in that narrow mile of chaotic fury this morning, death must have been instantaneous. It is a marvel that there were no casualties. The cover over the landing stage of the wool room was completely carried away, Twenty sheets of iron were torn off the north corner of the building, and ,three skylights were also removed by the wind. A°section of the roofing, iron of the main building was removed and placed on the opposite side of the iooi as if by magic. The iron was practically undamaged. A portion of the iron fence, facing Cloton Road, was carried a distance of about twentyfive yards and dashed through the main door of the building. The lauding stage was damaged, and a number of sheets.of iron were found inside the building. The door, alter being bio ken off the hinges, must have been carried through the air a distance, o about forty yards, for it was found broken to atoms alongside the old engine room. After passing over the river, the cyclone seemed to lose its intensity, for only minor damage was reported from the south end of the town. In the course of its mad career the cyclone destroyed a- number of haystacks, foiled trees, and did much minor damage. THE ELECTRICAL SUPPLY. In conversation with Mr Walter J. Newton, the Electrical Supply Company’s Engineer, the latter stated that the street lighting wires had suffered to a considerable extent, and ' it would take a number of days to re'pair the damage. The high tension * wire which supplied current for the 1- c - i \ ‘‘

south side of the river was "broken, having been cut by a piece of Hying roofiing iron. All the wires were damaged in Cordelia Street between Fenton Street and the river. “As luck j would have it,” said Mr Newton, two miles of wire which has been on order for a number of months arrived in Stratford yesterday, and we shall be able to repair the damage in a very short time. The new wire will facilitate matters, inasmuch that the old sire will not have to be erected again. In consequence of wires being broken, the bearer system will not be pilt up again in the damaged area. The system will be renewed with stronger insulation wire.” Referring to the storm aim i ■ c.V:.ts generally, Mr Newton said the people living on> Cordelia Street thought that there was a violent earthquake, though residents in his locality, at the end of Cloton Hoad, felt nothing unusual. Ho thought that a severe downfall oi rain was approaching. A considerable quantity of debris could b e seen boating down the Patea River at the icar of Newton King’s big Hide Shed. A large boulder, weighing over half a ton, from all appearances, had been caught by the storm, and torn from its resting place in the bank and rolled a few yards away. That the telegraph wires and ccletric wires should have been wrapped in such a perfect tangle indicates tuat the wind possessed a peculiar rotary force. Telegraph posts suffered under the strain to the extent ol being pulled out of position, but none arc actually broken. , 1 | JOTTINGS HERE AND THERE. i The force of the wind dashed roofing iron against treef, fences, and buildings, crumpling ii up as though it was only so many pieces ot cardboard. In some cases a sheet of iron was cut in two by striking another sheet, or by being smashed against a portion of a tree stum o.