TERRIBLE CYCLONE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2764, 1 April 1890, Page 2

TERRIBLE CYCLONE.

CITIES RUINED

IMMENSE.LOSS OF LIFE.

[by electric telegraph—copyright. New Yoiik, March 28. Accounts have reached here of a terrible cyclone which has been experienced in Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, and other districts on the left bank of the Mississippi River. The number of persons killed cannot yet be ascertained, but at present it is set down at about five hundred. The fury of the cyclone seemed to be most fearful in Kentucky, where the whole of the Ohio Valley is reported to be totally devastated, and to present an awful picture of desolation. The city of Louisville, on the Ohio, is in ruins, the principal buildings and residences having been wrecked by the fury of the storm. The town hall was struck tvhile a dance was going on. The building was completely destroyed, and terrible scene ensued. To add to the completeness of the disaster, the gasometers exploded, and three hundred of those present were killed either by the explosionor by the falling debris. The cyclone was felt' throughout the States mentioned, and nothing is left of many of the smaller towne but a heap of ruins. ' Later. Further reports of the cyclone experienced along the left bank of the Mississippi state that the railway station at Louisville was swept bodily into the Ohio River. Two thousand houses were levelled to the ground and trains and trams were blown off the tracks. Owing to the houses being wrecked the city was speedily in flames at many points, and numbers of unfortunate residents who were unable to escape from the debris were burnt to death. A party of Scotch tourists, farmers, and several English travellers were killed. The metropolis of Illinois was destroyed, engulfing the Catholic Church which was full of refugees. The lowlands of Arkansas and Mississippi were flooded and hundreds drowned. ■ ■■ ■ The tornado affected all the Western States, and was felt worst in the Ohio Valley. In Indiana the cyclone swept everything in its path for a width of 500 yards. The towns of Bowling Green, .Teffersonville, and Newport suffered greatly from the tornado and floods. The mortality at Louisville is estimated at under one hundred, and the lose of property at two millions. The loss of property at Cardwell is enormous, only a few nouses are left standing, the cycloue having either wholly or partially destroyed the rest. Marberg is enveloped by a large body of water, and it is believed a dam has burst in the hills. The inhabitants have been rescued. At Texas all the principal buildings have been washed away, and a man named Grazeu has been drowned.