Roofs and Chimneys Wrecked by Tornado

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 1

Roofs and Chimneys Wrecked by Tornado

GREYMOUTH HIT WATERSPOUT IN LAGOON Press Association GREYMOUTH, Today. Greymouth was struck about 7.30 o’clock last evening by a tornado and waterspout which came from the sea directly eastward with a width of from four to five chains. After passing over Blaketown and the lagoon the cyclone crossed Cowper, High and Shakespeare Streets, leaving in its wake a trail of damage. In Blaketown five houses, together with the outhouses, were seriously damaged, the roofs being blown off in each Instance. A number of chimneys were damaged. The waterspout was observed by many people as it crossed the lagoon. The wind on reaching Cowper Street lifted the roof of a new bungalow and carried it across the town into the hills to the eastward. Four or five other houses between Cowper Street and the hills had their roofs more or less lifted while the electric and telegraphic wires were dislodged along the track of the tornado. The whole electrical current of the town was Interrupted momentarily. There was great alarm among residents within a certain distance of the storm’s course, as it was accompanied by loud roaring and flying sheets of iron, timber, and other debris. The waterspout does not appear to have wrought any destruction, but it presented an alarming spectacle as it was seen rising out of the ocean. The weather has been wet and boisterous for a long time past, but the storm came without any warning. The scene of destruction attracted people in large numbers. It is fortunate that the track of the tornado was not a. little further to the northward as it would in that case have passed over a much larger number of structures. At the time of the earthquakes a tornado took a similar course. No estimate of the damage is yet possible.