Terrible Hurricane at Madrid.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 160, 10 July 1886, Page 1

Terrible Hurricane at Madrid.

A terrible hurricane broke over Madrid on Wednesday night, May 12, The weather during the day had been close, the thermometer registering 28 centigrade (82-4 Fahrenheit) in the shade, and the wind frequently shifting from south to north-west. The barometer fell violently, from 5 in the afternoon, to Btorm point, when rain began to fall so violently as to cause a panic in the streets. Within 70 minutes the hurricane had swept over the Manzanares Valley, uprooting hundreds of trees, smashing the palisades, carrying away roofa, destroying large foundry sheds, burying under one of them many persons, 13 of whom were .killed and 40 injured, mostly women, who. have left many orphans. The wind wa& so terrible that it knocked down persons in the streetß, and upset tram'cars and large mule-carts Falling tiles and fragmentßf ragmentB of roofs and trees killed or in j ured many persons Tall factor^ chimneys were razed to the ground, and in the gardens along the roadways the treeß were uprooted. The Puerta del Sol, in the centre of the city, in a few minutes became a lake, and the lower streets were converted into torrents. Lower Carabanchel suffered terribly. Not a house was left undamaged, and many were wholly blown down. In this neighbourhood, not- merely were a number of persons wounded.but hardly one inhabitant escaped unwounded. In the district called the Hospital a new public eating house, which had been erected at a eof t of nearly £2,000, was blown down instantaneously, the ruins falling upon 150 persons inside, of whom 62 were injured; The wreck of trees in the Retiro Gardens and of poor houses in theoutekirts of Madrid, especially in the neighbourhood of the Bull-ring, surpasses description, Th© terror evinced by all kinds of animals during the tempest was much noticed. Near Manzanares and at Carabanchel the scene can only be compared with the d6struction by the earthquakes last year; The Marquess of Salamanca's country seat. Vista Alegre, was devastated by a whirlwind ao violent that it razed off the ground the sentry boxes, hurling them a distance of 60 yards. . The papers state that the damae* exceeds £250,000. The Home Office authorities estimated the number of deaths 1 at nearly 100, aad of the wounded at 250, but the number injured is believed to be greater. The Queen Regent sent money for therelief p! the families of the victims, and notwithstanding her ' delicate i condition; -* to* Majesty drove to the principal ecenea of the damage. • ; . ( -