Hurricane Now

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 246, 7 January 1928, Page 11

Hurricane Now

BRITAIN FRESHLY BESET TRAGEDIES OF STORM By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. Reed. 1.5 p.m. LONDON, Friday. Britain’s experiences of unusual weather have now been increased to a day-long hurricane, the wind blowing from 60 to 85 miles an hour, suspending cross-Channel air services, turning the flooded districts of the Thames Valley into a storm-tossed sea, and making it difficult to manoeuvre the boats, which are the only means of transport. Widespread damage has been done over the whole countryHoardings, chimneys and masonry have been blown down, trees uprooted, windows blow in and telephones disorganised. Thirteen persons were injured in Loudon. People found a child crying beside the debris of a biown-down walls at Kilburn. A search revealed the mother dead. At Belfast eight persons were seriously injured. The gale fanned the flames of a farmhouse fire in Somerset. The parents were trapped and incinerated after lowering the children and their grandmother, who fractured a leg, from the window. The Thames continued to rise during yesterday, and in the afternoon its level at the Shepperton Lock was the highest recorded there for 33 years. A further fall of 800 tons of earth has delayed the reopening of the Southern railway line between Merstham and Coulsdon. It is hoped that normal traffic will be resumed on Monday.—Sun.