THE SYDNEY GALE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 249, 11 March 1913, Page 5

THE SYDNEY GALE

j WORST ON RECORD. NUMEROUS FATALITIES. By Cable—Press Association —Copyright. - .uiiey. Mare'ii * The storm w.-ts oi p of the worst On record in the metropolitan area. It in- 1 creased from a moderate north-easterly gale, and developed hurricane force for a couple of hours, accompanied by deafening thunder, vivid lightning and a deluge of rain. Altogether rain fell for 28Vi hours in the city, and 759 points were registered. The streets were transformed into streams, sweeping the low-, lying areas, and quickly .submerging these places ninny feet deep. The tram services Were dislocated through the de- ! hris blocking the rails, and long stretches j were under water. Sixtv cars were de-, railed, but nobody was injured. ' The ferry services were discontinued and the vessels moored. Smaller craft got a rough handling, but the only harbor fatality was the one previously cabled. The drowned man, Walter Moore, was a prominent yachtsman. A peculiar fatality occurred at Waterloo. An electric wire broke, and in falling curled round the neck of a man named Clifford, who was electrocuted. The cabman who was drowned at Leiehardt was named Stocklev. Tie was driving in the darkness, and in a deep dip in the road, filled with flood water, the horse stumbled. The body was recovered in eight feet of water. The horse was; drowned. The damage all round the city, particularly in the western suburbs, was very severe. The streets were torn tip and gardens destroyed, trees were uprooted, and fences and houses washed away. Houses were flooded, and hundreds of fowls and domestic animals destroyed. Round Marricksville it is estimated that the water encroached on GOO houses, greatly damaging the furniture, and in some cases washing away portions of the houses. Along Cook's liver the inmates of invaded houses had an exciting time, taking refuge on tables and roofs. A man swam down the river for a quarter of a mile and secured a boat, with which lie rescued twentv-tvvo men, women and children. Tn several eases the flood was too high to enter the doorwavs. and iron roofs had to be removed before the inmates were rescued from | their perilous positions. At Homebnsh the roof of a bouse occupied by Cameron, secretary of the Civil Ambulance Corps, his wife and four children, collapsed, his wife being pinned liv a beam to the bed. She was rescued. Her two sons received severe scalp wounds. The troops at Liverpool were flooded out. the whole camp being under water. At Bankstown the water backed against the railway and took possession of a number of houses. A conpl.9 of families took refuge on the roofs, and were rescued bv a raft. Other families spent the nifflit 011 tables, refusing to abandon their furniture. At Cnmpbelltown the floods caused serious damage to houses and shops, and manv live stock perished. 1 At Newcastle there was a heavy storm and flood. Ten draught horses, belonging to the Aushttlinu A™r?cdtural Coronanv. were beinsr driven in cite street when an electric light wire broke and fell 011 the animals, and all were killed. A man named O'Donnell fell into a storm-water channel and wis drowned. Another man. named TVorthinglon. was drowned whil* crossing a flooded creek. At Clifton the roof of the Imperial Hotel was carried a hundred yards and dropped on and wrecked another building. Other buildings were unroofed and damaged. Some who were sleeping in the hotel and residents in adjoining pipes ir«d miraculous escapee. There have l»>en a number of railway washaways. and tr-iins linve been lie'd up. The telegraphic service- are seriously blocked. The steamer Oueeii-l'ind. bound from ■Melbourne to Newcastle, anchored off Wilson's Promontory. She had broken down, and asked for immediate assistance. SENSATIONAL DETAILS. A PHENOMENAL STORM. MANY NARROW ESCAPES. WIND Ofi MILES AN HOUR. Received 10. 0.20 p.m. Sydney. March 10. Manv of the city and suburban shops ■and warehouses suffered severely from storm water percolating through the roofs and inundating the basements. The theatre emptied in the middle of a deluge. Tt was an unusual sight to see richly-dressed women divested of their shoes and stockings wading the flooded street to reach the trams. At Bondi the dammed flood waters swept through (he lower bedrooms of the hotel, where a man and several waitresses were sleeping. The man escaped, and the women took refuge 011 the heavier pieces of furniture, the lighter of which were carried away by a rush of water several feet deep. One woman climbed 011 to a verandah, and the others were rescued with difficulty. Manly fared badly. The roads were torn up. and many bouses were damaged by the force of the water, which formed n lagoon. At Manly Vale houses were deeply inundated, and furniture was floating in the rooms. The poultry farmers are great losers. A man named Waters was washed out of a motor boat moored at the wharf, and drowned. The sea was so rough that his would-be rescuers were unable to reach him. At Sylvania. 011 St. George's, river, four girls had a sensational escape,. Their house was unroofed, and the debris smashed the heeds where the girls were sleeping. They were practically unhurt.

Tn the low lands around Afarricksville the river scattered furniturp and household belonging* were swept from the houses, mixed with dead poultry, eats and dogs, A number nf horses were also drowned. The roof of a house at Oomo was lifted bndilv. carried half a mile, and denosited in the river. At Annandale a married couple were penned in a house liv the flood water. The husband escaped through a window, carrying his sick wife. The roof of the Imperial Hotel at Clifton was carried 011 to an adjoining building, where a woman and infant, were sleeping. The ceiling collapsed just over the bed. The two lay still till the'" were rescued. The guests at th" liefil were -mothered hv an avalanche of plaster and broken p-las-*. but 110 one was injured. Two men left, a bedroom .just before the tornado struck the hotel, and were returning upstair- when th"v foun'l that a cbimnev slack bad Fallen and smashed f° atoms the beds on which, under ordinarv circumstances, they wo",ld have been sleeping. In a second house fhe hot"! roof struck where a man and his wife and ch'td were sleeping. The weight of the debris hmmed the doors, nnd they had great: difficultv in i -eapincr. The danger was increased bv falling wreckage. At the height of the gale in Sydney

the wijid had a velocity of CO miles an hour. For a few minutes after midnight rain fell at the rate of 000 points per hour. After anchoring till morning the steamer Queensland resumed her voyage, to Newcastle. A NAVVY CAMP DEVASTATED. Received 10, 10.15 p.m. Sydney, March 10. Owing to washawavs on the lines, four Newcastle pits are temporarily idle. The' storm is now oyer. In Clippslaiul heavy rains are falling. The gale struck a big navvies' camp on the Illawarra line in the early hours of Sunday morning, and swept away all the tents. Hundreds of men were i shivering for hours in tor-vential rain. THE LONG REEF WRECK. Received 11, 12.15 a.m. Sydney, March 10. The search for wreckage on the Long Reef was fruitless. The storm did £4OOO damage to Mrs. McAthie's drapery stock. . VESSELS OVERDUE. Sydney, March 10. ■ Several coasting vessels overdue are supposed to be sheltering. Those arriving had a rough handling. Brookvale reports that most of the parts of a derrick are sticking out of the water on the Long Reef, near Manly. Investigation of the possible disaster will be made at daylight.