HURRICANES AT THE ISLANDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 23 May 1907, Page 3

HURRICANES AT THE ISLANDS

I .„, Sydney, May 22. the storm at the Caroline Islands, not the Solomons, burst without warniin' carrying everything before it. " Natives were swept into the sea. Tidal waves inundated the coastal villages.

LATER PARTICULARS. Received 2:Jrd, 12.40 a.m. Sydney, May 2.'. Letters received by Herman re'idents in Sydney give further details of th„hurricane in the Carolines. The Islands of Oleai and Ifaluk appear to have been the centre of the disturbance, which raged with terrific fury. The other! principal isainds of the group also mi' fered severely, but the people at Pou ape, link Yap an.] Pclew escaped. According to an officer of the German surveying corvette Pianet, which was despatched to the assistance of the ditresscd islanders, not a house remains standing on Oleai, and every cocoanut palm has been stripped. 80-ides 200 drowned at Oleii. 25 na tives perished at Ifaluk. Received 23rd, 12.45 a.m.

While the hurricane was at its height a tidal wave swept Oleai. The Herman ConiiiiiVLuer was visiting the island at the time. His schooner was blown to sea. and eventually reached the island of Saipan in the Mariariuc Group. The Resident Commissioner at Saipan at once organised a relief expedition. But for this probably the whole of the survivors at Oleai would have perished of starvation, as no boat was due to-call at the Island for four months. The island of Mokemok suffered conBiderably, all food supplies 'being destroyed. The Planet rescued one hundred natives on this island, and took them to Yap to save them dying of starvation.

Per Press Association. Auckland, May 22. Island news states that a huricanc on the island of Futunga on April 17th blew with such violence that a stone church, with walls 2 feet 4 inches thick, was blown to atoms; in fact, the whole island bears a desolate appearance. Houses belonging to the natives were levelled, and even the grass torn out of the ground. There is not a blade to be seen.

Food is scarce, and there will be a famine for a few months.

The Island of Alope, near Futunga, was totally wrecked.

Willis Island experienced a gale, but there was no damage.