TERRIFIC WHIRLWIND.

Waikato Argus, Volume X, Issue 866, 28 January 1901, Page 2

TERRIFIC WHIRLWIND.

Wils our issue of Saturday we had a briel I preference to the storm which raged on nFriday night, but at the lime of writing §we had no idea that it was nearly as fefsevere as if afterwards proved. A ten i||lic whirlwind appears to have commenced in the Cemetery Gully, HamilP'.on East. It levelled several large BSwillow trees, then tore out a number of ptruit trees iu Mr Lizzie's orchard. Passfeing on up the lull and evidently painintKin strength as it progressed it sniped oil Kibe bliu-gum trees on Capt. Steele's hill Mis if they were No trace of the jjfflwhirlwind can then be fouud until Mew pSstead is leached, aud here it appeare t' have swept along tile road, and to have iieeu about, a chain wide, for it lore up pine trees planted alous the road in SOint places, iu others twisting them ofl, and hurling them a considerable distance. Ac one spot whei e a clump of pines ( 14 in all) had covered a space of 20 or o"0 yards only one remains standing, the others having been torn off at various heights rangitn! from two to ten feet from the ground, and it must be remembered, too, that any one of the trees would measure 12 inches in diameter, while some were nearly double that. One of the largest was snapped ofl near .y.the ground and burled over u wire fence jHuear by without injuring any of the Muires. On the opposite side ot the road linear the same spot a similar thing has rahappencd, some half-dozen trees beine ll'efi out of about 20. After scattering BJthe hay in several of the neighbouring Ijjpaddoeks the whirlwind seems to have' Sjrlisiippeared as mysteriously as it arose.! Si-'uch an occurrence is unprecedented iui rafVaikato, and it will be interesting t( flknow whether any other portion of the! suffered from its ravages. ■