Trail of Havoc Left by Tornado

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 698, 25 June 1929, Page 7

Trail of Havoc Left by Tornado

ROOFS SNATCHED OFF DAMAGE AT PALMERSTON Press Association PALMERSTON N., Today. The tornado which struck part of Palmerston North yesterday was unprecedented in fury and left destruction and ruin in its wake. The tornado apparently commenced somewhere beyond Ivairanga, where, in Lower Aorangi, a plantation was levelled. Apparently it swept over vacant farm lands until it reached the western end of the borough. Then commenced a trail of wreckage as the gigantic wind tore through home after home, levelling chimneys, snatching off roofs, tearing out windows, flattening out buildings and garages, trees, telephone lines and fences.

Houses which received the full force were greatly damaged. Others were more fortunate and their loss was only light. The wind tore a track from Boundary Road West across to the railway yards, thence across to the Girls’ High School, which was so extensively damaged that the school was not opened today. Pieces of tile blew’ in the windows like leaves, causing great consternation.

After leaving the school the wind tore through Te Awe Awe Street, doing further damage, then across the Manawatu River to Aokautere, up the Pahiatua Track, where the homestead of Mr. W. H. Bond received its full force. A woolshed was damaged beyond repair. No stock was killed, but the sheep yards w T ere demolished. Sheets of iron from the woolshed were carried off into the hills. Thereafter the tornado vanished over the range of mountains. It was the most sensational experience of its nature in the town’s history and the damage runs into many thousands of pounds. It is impossible to estimate the exact number of homes affected. The business area escaped owing to the narrow track of the visitation. HOUSES FLOODED

The weather still remains verjstormy, with rain at intervals. Many people whose dwellings were affected by the tornado spent an unenviable night as the rain, which fell at intervals, poured through the gaping holes in the roofs.

In one instance where the roof of a house was torn off, the people were compelled to evacuate the dwelling, finding shelter with neighbours. The mother and her four children all had a miraculous escape, as the roof disappeared from their home, and the building shook under the terrific strain.

A remarkable feature was that there were no casualties considering that the air was filled with flying pieces of iron and other debris. One building in the course of erection was demolished. Another was badly twisted. In some cases chimneys crashed through the roofs of houses, but luckily did not get through the ceiling. The occupants had a most terrifying ordeal. Homes resembled those affected in parts of the earthquake region, with boles in the roofs and damage to the general structure. One large poultryshed containing 500 fowls was completely ruined, but not one bird was killed.

Every house in the path of the tornado suffered some damage.