TORNADO SWEEPS GRIMLY ON

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 462, 18 September 1928, Page 9

TORNADO SWEEPS GRIMLY ON

TRAIL OF DESOLATION IN FLORIDA BUILDINGS LIFTED AND HURLED ALOFT THE tornado which devastated the West Indian Islands has , . “Urled itself on Florida, and has left a gTeat wake of desolation behind it. Whole houses and buildings were lifted into the air and flung: hundreds of feet. _ T'ke situation in Porto Rico is more desperate. About (00,000 persons are facing starvation.

(United. P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian and N.Z. Press Association)

Reed. 9.5 a.m. WASHINGTON. Mon. avlilnhf led Cr ? ss , is enlisting all the fniH i surgical aid, to follow the ■' contl »^ t of relief workers ,SS S , tnekeu Florida area, where tne 1926 disaster is now being: vividly re-enacted. Spasmodic reports reaching Jacksonville, where the relief campaign is being directed, advised that Miami is virtually unharmed. The tornado is reported at present to be sweeping in the direction of Tampa, after leaving a wake of desolation at Palm Beach, where there was a wind velocity of 90 miles, and waves 40 feet high breaking»over the boulevards. An eye-witness, prior to the disruption of the telegraph service, reported having seen houses and barns in the vicinity of Tampa lifted intact into the air, hurled hundreds of feet, and shattered to bits in their descent. Tampa residents who presumed that the tornado would likely spend itself before reaching the city are now said to be evacuating in droves. It is regarded as likely that the tornado will lose its fury upon reaching the Gulf of Mexico, but great fear is expressed at the ultimate damage. Government experts who were despatched post-haste to Palm Beach are bending every energy to prevent a spread of typhoid. Engineers and construction men are working ceaselessly in an effort to re-establish the electric current and repair damage to the water system. Reports from the mid-west indicate that the tornado has abated completely. Salvage work at Rockford, Illinois, is now proceeding. The flood waters, which yesterday threatened to inun date the city, have receded, enabling the rescue work to continue uninterrupted. Unofficial reports indicate that the situation in Porto Rico is increasingly desperate. It is estimated that 700,000 persons

are destitute, and facing starvation. The water supply is entirely cut off Food prices are at the maximum, so the United States Red Cross has authorised its Porto Rican branch to purchase 20,000 dollars’ worth of food and distribute it immediately. A United States Government destroyer, en route to Porto Rico, has been converted into a hospital ship for the use of the Red Cross. SWATH 100 MILES WIDE ACROSS WHOLE STATE WIND’S TERRIFIC FORCE (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) (United Service J Reed. 12.42 p.m. NEW YORK, Monday. Incomplete reports list eight dead and 100 injured in the Florida storm. Many inland towns have not reported. The storm cut a swath nearly 100 miles wide across the State, from Palm Beach toward Tampa, with the greatest damage apparently on the east coast, between Delray and Fort Pierce. A message from Miami says the West Palm Beach damage runs into millions. Not a building was undamaged. No check can be made of the deaths. The wind velocity was estimated at 125 miles an hour. Miami was comparatively undamaged. Two motorists from Palm Beach say hundreds were cut and bruised and suffered broken limbs. Hardly a building escaped damage. Public utilities are paralysed. A New Orleans message says general desolation from Hampano to Palm Beach is reported from Miami.