VIOLENT STORM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 March 1939, Page 4

VIOLENT STORM

SEVERE DAMAGE IN SAMOA WORST FOR FIFTY YEARS. TERRIFIC RAIN RECORDED. Samoa experienced its worst weather in 50 years when a tropical disturbance developed between Fiji and Tonga on January 13. Heavy wind and seas heralded the change and soon the waves were breaking 30 feet high over the sea wall in Beach Road. The lawns and road suffered badly as hundreds of tons of sand, coral and stones were cast up. The wall was badly damaged and the telephone and light schemes were interfered with. The storm continued next day and terrific rains commenced to fall. They continued to do so with slight intermission up to January 20, when 56.41 in had been recorded at the Observatory. However, in the hills the fall had been much heavier and in places more than 70in was measured. In all that time only 20 minutes sunshine was recorded, which is a record for Samoa. The rivers, which are all very short, were soon rushing torrents and immense damage was caused to plantations, roads and bridges. The Falafa Road, the main artery to the south and east coast, is blocked by washaways and damage to bridges at Vaisigano, Solosolo, Lotogo and Fagali’i. On the west coast the main damage is at Vaea, Alamagato, Lotopa, Vaimoso, Eva and Fusi, but traffic is not completely blocked. The Administration’s hydro-electric plant was wrecked and the small standby plant was called into requisition, but it is not sufficiently powerful to generate the necessary power so a large portion of the district is in darkness. The water scheme failed and for several residents were forced to save rain water as best they could, for since reticulation few houses are supplied with water tanks. Native villages were inundated for they are mostly built on low-lying lands, and dozens of fales (native houses) were either washed away or collapsed or were ruined. The Latter Day Saints’' mission at Pesega had a rough time. It is on the b&nk of the Vaimoso River and there was a stream of water more than four feet deep running through it for days, which deposited hundreds of tons of silt on the malie. It is divided from the Mulifanua Road, by a stone wall, 3ft 6in high, and there was a stream of water rushing over this into the village across the road. The river here was more than half a mile wide. An immense volume of water came down from Alamagato and Vaimea into Taufusi and it was more than three feet deep through the houses. PLANTATIONS SUFFER. Considering the terrific rainfall and the rate at which it travelled toward .the seathe loss. Of life has been small, as up 'to the present only three natives have been ,reported drowned. Many cattle, pigs and fowls were swept away and it was. a common sight to see the roofs of fales, surrounded by household goods and wreckage, being carried down the rivers. Plantations, especially those of cocoa and bananas, were heavily hit; the cocoa crop will most black-podded and hundreds of banana plants have toppled’over. The breadfruit crop was destroyed, as the fruit became waterlogged with, the .rain and dropped off the trees. Now hundreds of tons are rotting on'the ground. This is a serious loss to the natives, for breadfruit is one of the staple sources of food supply throughout the islands. The total damage is. estimated at £lOO,OOO, nearly half of which has been caused to Administration property. When it is considered that this is suffered on a small island 26 miles long by 16 wide at its widest part it is a serious matter for all concerned. The mails by the Matson Line were held up at Pago Pago for six days, as the sea was too rough for the motor launch to come across.

The island of Savaii experienced the same weather conditions as Opolu, but the damage is not so extensive, as comparatively little road making and improvements have yet been carried out. News from Tutulia (American Samoa) indicates they had similar weath- ; er there and much damage was done. The hydro and freezer installations were badly damaged and are out of commission, bridges and roads wrecked and a number of native fales and plantations suffered badly. It is a coincidence that similar weather was experienced in January, 1899, the year of the great hurricane when 12 ships were wrecked in Apia harbour and more than 170 lives were lost. The damage ashore was not so great on that occasion las very few improvementshad been made.