Tornado’s Grim Toll

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 461, 17 September 1928, Page 1

Tornado’s Grim Toll

WEST INDIES STRICKEN Trail of Damage and Death TERRIBLE PICTURE OF DEVASTATION (United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service) NEW YORK, Saturday. FE latest reports to hand show that the tornado which wreaked havoc at Porto Rico, West Indies on Thursday and which has had a curious counterpart in _ States of America, resulted in a heavy loss of hie and tremen dous damage to property.

Communication has just been established with Porto Rico again and reports paint a horrifying picture of devastation. It is impossible yet to determine the exact loss of life, but it is certain that the loss to property will reach an enormous figure. The tornado blasted its way through San Juan, the capital of Porto Rico, battered houses to the ground and reduced the residential and commercial sections of the city to masses of hopeless ruins. Hundreds of occupants of the buildings were killed or injured in the space of a few minutes. The entire population of the West Indies is living in terror anticipating further havoc at any moment. ENORMOUS DAMAGE Reports which have reached Havana from the stricken zones in Porto Rico indicate that the hurricane caused one of the greatest disasters iu the history of the Carribean Sea. It is estimated that 70 per cent, or the homes and 30 Per cent, of the commercial buildings destroyed at the San Juan. The homes of thousands of workers a long the waterfront were completely destroyed and one-third of the city’s population is without shelter. Reports from Humacao, on the east ocast of Porto Rico, state that 30 lives lost in the hurricane there. Extensive damage was done to the sugar crop. A representative of the Red Cross Society at St. Croix, Virgin Islands, west Indies, near Porto Rico, reports a terrific hurricane there. Communication with St. Thomas was cut off and hundreds of people were homeless and need of clothes and money for food. ADVANCING ON FLORIDA? The weather reports indicate that the hurricane is now advancing upon Florida, where a recurrence of the jnemorable disaster of 1926 seems to be a possibility. The three midwestern States, Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois, were affected by the tornado. At Rockford, Illinois, the heaviest

losses were sustained. There the deaths are estimated at between 50 and 75. One section o£ the town was practically obliterated. It is feared that the toll of the tornado will be heavily supplemented by floods which are now reported to be gaining headway and choking off avenues of escape. A furniture factory at Rockford collapsed and more than 100 employees wire entombed. Many are believed to have been killed instantly. Several other factories collapsed. Red Cross workers are rushing to the aid of the people in the stricken areas. In response to a wireless message sent by the Associated Press Association. the captain of the Orcoma with Sir Austen Chamberlain on board, replied that his vessel did not encounter the hurricane. The Orcoma is due at Havana to-night.