FIERCE HAILSTORM.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 December 1921, Page 6

FIERCE HAILSTORM.

WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. FARMERS’ HEAVY LOSSES. Sydney, Dee. 14. Leaving devastation in its wake, an unprecedented haulstorm Jias just passed over the north-western district of New South Wales. So terrific was its force that trees were split like match wood. At Kelvin, in the Gunnedah district, the storm reached the full strength of its fury. Nothing of the kind has been seen or heard before. The hailstones are described as falling blocks of ice, anil the noice was deafening. It was likened unto blue metal bejig showered on the house-tops from a great height. Fowls, rabbits., birds, and animals of all kinds Jay about dead in hundreds. A farmer’s wife had more than a hundred turkeys, valued at £1 per head, ready for the Christmas market. Of this number only three remain alive. Numbers of pigs were among the slain. Residents who had the misfortune not to be under cover were bruised by the falling hail. Stock were almost driven mad, and in their frantic efforts to escape the animals rushed into wire fences, in mati.y cases with disastrous results. The estimated loss in this area alone is over £lO,OOO. Most of the farmers are uninsured. In the Baan Baa district the farmers have lost practically everything. Boggabri fared even worse. Here hail was packed up on the verandahs in places a foot high. The Commercial Hotel was unroofed. One selector had 300 acres of wheat ready for stripping, with prospects of a nine-bag yield. He will not liarvest a bag. Many others suffered similarly.