ELECTRICAL WEATHER.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 March 1916, Page 8

ELECTRICAL WEATHER.

A STORM HITS STRATFORI/ TVITH CYCLONIC FORCE. MUCH DAMAGE DONE. Stratford, Yesterday. A cyclonic wind struck Stratford near the racecourse at (1.15 this morning, and for a mile cut a sixty-foot track through the outskirts of the town to Warwick Road. Trees, sheds and fences were torn down and blown awav. Several houses and Mr. Newton King's hide sheds were partially unroofed and otherwise damaged. The telephone, telegraph and electric wires along the route were rolled into an inextricable tangle. A small motor house was hurled against the residence of Mr. T. G. Orubb, from an adjoining section and smashed through the dining-room window. The damage was very considerable, but no one was injured. HOUSES UNROOFED. A GREAT BLOW. .(From Our Own Correspondent.) Stratford. Last Night. Those Stratfordites who are early risers and reside near Cordelia Street witnessed a cyclone this morning, the like of which liar, never occurred in the district before. Ev a visit to the places damaged one would think that a Zeppelin had been hovering over the locality. All through last night the weather was squally, v.ith tremendously heavy downpours of rain. At .1.50 a.m., a cyclone, which appeared to come from the north, came across that part of the town known as the Extension, and swept an area of about 100 yards wide, between Ariel and Cordelia Streets. The first thing it struck was a hayshed, owned by Mr. McLean, and this was turned right round. Then it caught the end of Mr. John Sharrock's house in Cordelia Street, knocking the chimney, down, the bricks and debris going through the kitchen and doing considerable damage. Next it caught the house of Mrs. E. Smith, at the corner of Regan and Ariel Street, and took the roof of the building clean oIV. and deposited some of the iron in Erv< ':i Strcetj over a quarter of a mile distant. Telephone and electric light wires were severed, probably by the iron coming in contact with them. Across the road the wash-house of Mr. E. R. Wilson was taken from its foundations. and bodily lifted six or eight feet, the building being wrecked. DAMAGE IN VICTORIA PARK. The Ladies' Croquet Club's Pavilion suffered severely. This building measured 2fi feet by 12 feet, with a vcrandaji attached, and it was lifted bodily over a fence and turned upside down, smashing all the crockery, seats, etc., in it. The force of the wind may be judged by the fact that a verandah post with till l pile attached, was found 00 feet away from the pavilion.

The tower used by the Stratford Fire Brigade for demonstration purposes was blown down nnd some of the timber (Oin. by fiin.), were carried a distance of over 200 feet. At the corner of Fenton Street a large maeroearpa tree was blown clear out of the Park into the stret. Beyond this the Park practically escaped, with minor damage.

SOUTH SIRE OF FENTON STREET. In Fonton Street two houses opposite the Park suffered. The gale lifted the back portion of the roof of Mr. Cecil Wright's residence and broke the skylight. Next door, at Mr. K. Watkins' residence, two chimneys were down and the scullery was demolished, and the fencing injured. Strange to say the residence of Mr. Meyenberg was untouched, while in the adjoining house the verandah was wrecked and the roof suffered. The cyclone seemed to have veered right across the road in a southeasterly direction, and caught Mr. Birkett's place, demolishing tTie chimney and damaging the roof. Alongside of Mr. Birkett's residence is a practical}' vacant section with the exception that, a new motor ear shed that had just been finished. Mr. Birkett intended to bring the new ear down to the shed last night, but decided to wait till this N inorning, luckily for him, for all that could be seen of the shed this morning was the piles. Along■iritis' Mr. ftrnbb's residence, which Mr. poon was making additions to. The scene this morning was one of desolation. Every window on the north side of the hotisp was broken, the chimney gone, and a large new wash-house (24 by 10) was shifted off its piles for a distapee of 4 feet. In the dining-room everything, was .thrown clear, and other rooms suffered. The impact must have |>een severe, because even the facings of the door a were torn away, and th panels [of the door smashed. Mrs.. Grubb said that at first she thought that an explosion or a violent earthquake had occurred, and then the house rocked, ornaments fell down and pictures suffered. Mr. Newton King's hide ~ and wool store is on the opposite side of the street, south from Mr. Grubbs', on the Cloton Road. The building was formerly owned by the Stratford Bacon Company, and the roof of the large place suffered severely. Doors were blown in and windows blown out. Fences were destroyed and trees uprooted, while the old boiler shed, formerly used by the Bacon Company, was demolished. The storm evidently spent itself at Mr. Kins's store, although across the j'atea BKer, on the Toko railway line may be seen iron from Mr. Birkett's motor shed bung up In the high tree®. Accompanying the storm was heavy rain, and this added to the discomfort of those who suffered The damage U considerable. To-day all the local builders have their ful' staffs, at work doing tlulr best, to put things right. |t was fortunate that the cyclone did not strike Broadway; if it had, considerable damage must have been done to the ■buslnw portion of Stratford.