A SEVERE GALE.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 May 1920, Page 5

A SEVERE GALE.

SWEEPS OVER CHRISTCHURCH.. TRIALS AT SEA, By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. A tremendous south-westerly , gaie swept over the city in the early hours of this morning, damaging trees, breaking overhead wires, and disturbing whole households by its extraordinary violence. A policeman on early duty says tht gale reminded him of the explosion of a big dump in France. The heaviest gusts tore along the streets at a tremendous speed, and to walk against them was all but impossible. At 2.15 a.m. a break was discovered in the transmission lines of the Lake Coleridge hydro-electric system, and it was C a.m. befoTe repairs were effected and the current restored. Mr. Skey, of the Government observa tory, states that during the storm the barometer rose one-tenth of an inch in .1 few minutes, and the thermometer seven degrees in three or four minutes, He believes the gale had a record velocity for these parts. The Government steamer Tutanekai, which left Wellington at 2 p.m. yesterday "for Lyttelton in order to bunker on her way to Oamaru, where she is to pick up thirty hospital patients for Nelson, struck the gale at 1.15 a.m. When oppaeite the Conway River the Teasel was hit by a westerly gale of hurricane force, which later suddenly veered to southerly again, hitting the vessel severely. Captain Post stated it was the severest weather he had experienced on the New Zealand coast. "I have done a lot of travelling around the South Sea Islands and the Indian Ocean, but never before have I experienced anything like it," he said. "My chief officer, who has travelled the coast for years, says the same."