THE STORM KING. FRIGHTFUL , WEATHER IN EUROPE AND THE STATES

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 241, 11 February 1888, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE STORM KING. FRIGHTFUL , WEATHER IN EUROPE AND THE STATES

The papers by the mail are full of accounts of the terrible storm that swept over Europe and America the beginning of January. We give a few extracts :—: —

A BLUSTERING BLIZZARD. Omaiia, January 12. — The worst blizzard of the winter is now raging. Snow began falling about 4 o'clock this morning, and continued steadily for about twelve hours, when over six inches had fallen on a level. About 4 o'clock this afternoon a high wind sprang up, which increased until it is now blowing at a frightful velocity. All horse and cable car traffic is suspended in the city and no trains are being sent out or any of the railroads. No trains are arriving here. All telegraph wires cast are down except one, and this is expected to fall at any moment. About 800 sleigh loads of Omaha people drove across the river to visit Council Bluffs this morning. A number who were in the party have not been accounted for, and there are grave fears that in attempting to drive back across the river some of them have been lost. A searching party is beiner organised.

CHILDREN LOST IN THE SNOW. St. Paul, January 12. — Railroad men agree that the storm of to-day is quite the worst ever known in the Northwest for their business. It extends from the Rocky Mountains to Lake Michigan, but its worsb effects are felt in Dakota and Minnesota. Everywhere it has been accompanied by a high wind which drives the snow badly. la Northern Dakota, with the temperature below zero, it assumes the character of a genuine blizzai'd. The railroads had hardly finished clearing their tracks from the previous storm, and that of to-day has absolutely blocked all the small roads, though thethrough lines are battling bravely against the elements to keep the trains moving. All freights on the Northern Pacific and Manitoba lines have been abandoned, and no passenger trains were put out on these roads to-night. A special from Huron, D. T., says ; The wind is blowing fifty miles an hour. The air is so full of snow that one is unable to see fifty feet ahead at any time. Some unthinking teachers this afternoon dismissed their children, some of whom had to go four or five blocks across the open land. Five or six children got lost, whistles were blown, bells rung, and the people turned out and walked fifteen or twenty abreast back and forth over the ground. They found two. The others have not yet been discovered. The mercury is 4 degrees below zero, and has fallen 26 degrees since 10 o'clock. Later— By forming in parties of ten, each taking a long rope and marching across the prairies in line of battle, the villagers found all the lost school children except one, a child of 10, named Johnson. The search still continues to-night, but as the mercury is 10 degrees below zero there is little hope of finding the child alive. A number of farmers started home from town as soon as the storm began, and there are grave fears for their safety. A Pierre (D. T. ) special" says : The -wind i8 blowing sixty miles an hour and it is impossible to see ten feet ahead. Three trains are snow-bound at Ree Heights, and there is reported a collision between two freights at tho same point.

TREMENDOUS GALE. Halifax, Dec. 30. — A terrific southeast gale prevailed last night and caused terrible damage to shipping in the harbour. All the vessels in port were more or less injured, and in some cases the wharves were damaged. The schooner Helen e sank, and is likely to prove a total wreck. She had a cargo of coal on board. The steamer Alpha broke away from her wharf and had to run out into the stream. The schooner Josephine was severely damaged, one side being cut down almost to the water line. A number of boats were smashed or swamped, and a small coal-laden schooner sank ab Ketch Harbour. The schooner Arthur is ashore at the entrance to Liverpool, Nova $cotia, and will likely be a total wreck.

A TIDAL WAVE. Portland (Me.), Dec. 30. —The lighti keeper at Portland Head reports that this city had a nairow escape from destruction by a tidal wave during Wednesday night's storm. Apparently a monster wave came in the shape of a pyramid. It struct first against the outer line of rock, and at that time the mass of water towered up even with the lighthouse itself. Between the line of rock extending for perhaps one hundred feet along the sea line and tho shore is an opening some forty feet deep, and varying from ten to twenty feet in width. This space was never filled with water until last night, when the giant wave broke and filled it from above. Waves of ordinary size and power, breaking and pressing behind, added their strength to that of the monster, and the entire mass was hurled sixty feet above the high-water mark against the engine, boiler and foghorn house. The force of the blow was such that the building, built as strongly as possible, was bent, twisted and shattered. Great iron stays were snapped as though they had been pipe stems, and the receding wave carried with it everything on shore, including stones weighing tons. At Salt Lake City and the adjoining region the thermometer registered 29 degrees below zero.

The Cold in Germany. Berlin, December 29. — Most of the German rivers are frozen over. Several of the Baltic ports, including Konigsberg, are closed. The southern and western rivera are all coA r ered with drifting ice. Railway traffic is greatly interrupted. In Thm-inga 1 and the Hara mountains deer and other game are flocking to the villages for food. Several deaths from the effect of exposure are reported in various portions of Austria. i London, January 5. — The snowstorm on the Continent continues. Several railways are snow blockaded, compelling stoppage qf all traffic At Bn onn eight gypsies have been found frozen to death, and at Vienna several women ha\o perished from cold.

ll oiivos Buried in Snow. Bismarck (Dak.), January 6.— The terrific snowstorm which lias been raging throughout the Northwest for a week past shows no signs of abatement. 15 has fallen steadily in this section for the past week, and is the heaviest storm known in the history of the Territory. Small houses on the outskirts of the cit} 1 are rendered entirely indistinguishable, being completely covered with snow. Traffic is rendered entirely out of the question. The passenger and 'mail train from the East' managed, after long delays and blockades! to reach as far as Bismarck, and found it- impossible to make any further headway west. • ;- ■'