A FURIOUS GALE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4499, 17 August 1893, Page 3

A FURIOUS GALE.

Whirlwind at the Upper Plain.

\Damage at MrE. Meredith's.

A furious westerly gale passed over' the Wairaiapa Valley yesterday afternoon, and was especially felt in Greytown and Carterton. The g#lo continued throughout the night and ims particularly severe undcrne»tli the range of liilk At 3.20 this morning it Boumlod like a rushing torrent, at the Upper Plain, but in Masterton ii was ac-.ircoly felt. A peculiar and unpleasant expeii enceliappcried to MrE. Meiedith,on the Upper Plain, during the early hours of the nnrni.ig. Between one and two o'c'ork the eale ceased with remarkable a uldeni«, and n dead calm was experien eil. Shortly afterwards a luud crash was heard, Inlloweii by a peculiar sound ou the roof of tho lions: which ediiously alarmed the inmates,

Daylight disclosed the fuel that a whirlwind had struck tho Imrn nnd havs'ack, the foniior I eing lifted up and practically turn, d inside out. '[he haystaelt was destroyed and was found to be in four B"c',ions. Two of tiiese appear to have been completely lifted upiiud deport d two or tbreo chains from where the original staek hiid stood, in one of the lo's there could bo uo liSh tlmn live or six tons.

Tile stack was well Imilt, SfOurely thatched and loaded with several tons of posts, also being wired down. The thatch pegs were ciroh'd round the site of the stack, up to a distance of five chains to windward, and were securely fixed in the ground by tho blunt end?.

The hay has been dt posited quite twenty chains fioni whue the stack stood, in a south westerly direction, and up to Mr Mackersej's fence, in the teeth of the wind, Mr Merod'.tli informs us that tlio sound of the hay fulling ou the roof of his house was most peculiar, and it •is somewhat extraordinary that the dwelling itself escaped, - the centre of the whirlwind king very close to it. A cow shed and cotiag.t only a few chains away ore al'O untouched, ihe cowshed being only an old and roughly constructed buildiug. ' Mr Meredith's man, who live? close by, was kept awike hy the gale, and becoming uneasy got up and 'ook two horses out ef the barn, where they had been stabled, Jn attempting toreturn to his cottage he w»s compelled to hang on and drag himself along tbe fence, Ten minutes later came the calm followed by the whirlwind, but happily the animals were released, Mr Meredith estimates his loss at about £SO or £GO.

Tho Imy-stnck wbs clo ; e to astrong post and mil fenc?, tho '.iinber of \*bicb uppeara to be fairly sound, but fifteen panels of the fence liave been torn up, and the moat or the rails aro laid up lo windward, in snine cases twice the length of themselves. Had the centre of ilie cycloii'i bwu only a few chains more lo tho east there is no knowing what fatal consequences might have happened, ne Mr Mnrrdiili's home would certainly bave been wrecked.