TERRIFIC STORM
A SCANDINAVIAN SETTLEMENT DUST ROY ED. (BT TELEGRAPH.— I'llKriS ASSOCIATION.) Nai'ikr, Sunday. On Friday afternoon a fire broke out at Norsewood and burned all day and far into the night, destroying nearly the whole township. Owing to the wires being down full information lias only just been received. About ten o'clock a furious gale rose and brought sparks from some clearings some distance away. Unfortunately there were very few menat home, the majority being away at work, many of them at considerable distances. The women and the few men in the settlement were powerless to check the spread of the fire, as sparks were flying on the wings of the gale as thick as hail. By dint of almost superhuman efforts a few places were saved by draping them with blankets kept continually wet. It was soon seen that to stay in the village was impossible, and the women and children began to hurry away by the roads still left open. The children were as usual, at school in the afternoon, and news coming of the disaster, the school was dismissed, but as some of the children essayed the task of returning home and were driven back py the smoke and flames, the schoolmaster with commendable discretion re-assembled them, and marched them to the Te Whiti clearing, a mile away from the school, towards _ Kopua. Here they and several families remained till the rain came on in the night, when they sought for shelter in the hotel building, which was crowded with women and children, now without houseor home, or a change of raiment. All the public buildings, churches, stores, $ndnearly allthedwellii]gs\yere destroyed. Ormondville was next threatened, $nd an important country bridge was destroyed. The churoh at Ormondville seemed doomed, when a heavy downpour of rain set in and saved it. The bush on both sides of the line at Kopua was all ablaze, and furnished agraud sight to the pasengers by the late trains. At Ashley Clinton the settlers were threatened with a devastating fire, and two dwellings were destroyed. Ihe thunderstorm at this point w j* s truly awful, and the residents of the Ashley Clinton district had buf little sleep through the long wild night. The whole country was almost incessantly light up with vivid lightning flashes, \yhile the thunder crashed immediately overhead with awe-inspiring violence, All night long the Stqrni raged in fury, aud the ran) obliterated fche last smouldering embers. Dozens of poor settlers with large families have been made homeless, or have suffered severe losses, and public subscriptions! are already being raised to alleviate the distress,
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18880320.2.16
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2448, 20 March 1888, Page 2
Word count
Tapeke kupu
434TERRIFIC STORM Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2448, 20 March 1888, Page 2
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.