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PHEMMEMIf HMIiST-8Rffl
AfilB GYGL0O&.
CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE.
CROPS DESTROYED.
Since its foundation Ren mark has
been visited by phenomenal sioni.s
on four occasions. The first was on
October 2nd 1891, when a cyclone
traversed the settlement and damaged
I houses an 1 canvas dwellings, wbich
were at that early period ihe mos..
riuuierous tenements. On December
26th 1894 a heavy fall of rain greatly
damaged ihe apricot crop which \va>
Ihen drying. On No\unl>er 18ih 1897
another tornado blew down Block C
Church and other tenements. On
Sunday last, between three and four
! e'eiock a terrific thunderstorm came up
! from the westward, the flashes of vivid
I lightning ami the continued sonorous
roll of the thunder heralded its a,p
proach. A light breeze had heen
blowing from the east, hut the storm
came up and darkened the horizon,
giving scarce ten minutes' notice when,
accompanied by euoimous hailstones,
it burst upon Mr. Waters' block, au<i
cleared his apricjt blossoms and killeu
some chickens.
Roaring southward the storm next
reached Mr. Hel ley's block, but in the
vicinity of the house there Was no
wind, the hiiilstolies coming down
qui it- perpemlicuiuriy, while ten chains
away the icy globes were driving at an
angle of thirty degrees from t'ae ground
by the force of the hurricane.
Changing in its course the storm
coutinued with greater fury in a north
easterly direction, attacking the pro
perty of Mr. Cuiilifife, whose house is
occupied by Capiain Moffat. Here the
greatest sensation and the most mira
culous escape occurred. Captain
Moffat's nautical experience told hiiu
that something more than a common
squall was coming, and he hurried bis
wife and visitors, Miss Fetch and Mr.
VV. E. L. Wilhs, into the verandah,
Mrs. Moffat having just closed the
hack doors, when lightning struck the
chimn.-y, which fell through the roof
and wrecked it. The hurrica.ne then
struck the building and carried the
whole roof away, a portion being
driven to the fence sixty yards away
and the other across the road eighty
yards from the house. ' The smaller
portion of the iron from the roof was
blown to the'? spot where Mr. Willis
usually tied bis horses, but on this
occasion he had providentially bitched
them about half a chain away. The
animals, however, bore the brunt of
the storai, but were driven into the
wire fence from which tiutyr had to be
cut out.
Continuing the same direction the
storm denuded the apricot blossoms on
the blocks of Messrs. U or man liossell
and Greenlees, reaching Mr. H, A.
Hos.iell'p, whi-re the verandah and the
kitchen were riddled by the bail, so
that they looked as if bombarded by
Maxim guns. On tbe other side of
the street Miss H. Heaton's bouse was
treated in a similar manuer, and mi^ht
have been taken as a tenement in the
environs of tvtntiago de Cuba.
From this point tbe storm rag'd
round in a soiitn easterly direct ion and
smashed Mr. Diiley'b windows and, to
a ureal, extent, devastated Mr. S\vinuy's
apricots.
Continuing in the same direction,
Mr. A.. Malcolm gui tbe lull ft rce o£
the storm, bis windows being broken
and the rnof battered in. Mis^ni; No.
8 Pumping .Station the cyclone vtced
o the south and the artillery of the
clouds destroyed standing crops and
many apricot blossoms on tbe bl>cks
of Messrs. Black, Lewis a:?d Colonel
Mo rant.
Traversing south east, the storm*
which to this point tiad been in two
branches, runuing somewhat paia lei,
converged at, the orchard of Mr. Hoi
lingdrake. Here tbe whole concentra
ted force of the hurricane, appearing
to blow in every direction, assaulted
the house and trees. The apricots
were completely den tided of blossoms,
most of the fruit spurs,knocked off and
pieces of bark and wood torn away
from the trunks. The hailstones,
-^oiiie as iaige ai small hen's eggs,
haltered a'ld pierce'1 the iron roof.
The cyclouic outburst of 1891 expended
mosl of its fury on this house, when
four inch verandah pouts were snapped
off like carrots and thrown playfully on
and through the roof.
Easterly yet the storm with dimi
nished fury continued, doing some
damage to the orchards and crops of
Messrs. U. Malcolm. Whitburn and
Oloreusliaw, the Crescent being the
last plantation to suffer in Renmark.
Tbe cyclone struck the settlement
in two brauches, about half a mile
apart, anl, converging at Mr. Holling
.ii-aktt's, pa-tsed on rn Block B. The
arta affeuttd was a belt about two
miles wide, starting at the Cooltong
Hills, near Mr. Waters'and describing
tbe arc of a circle for about seven miles,
leaving Renmark for the south. Its
track was almost identical with that of
1891. Altogether Monday showed
what havoc can be made in half an
hour. Tht track of the storm was
luckily confined, and in tbe calm of
Tuesday afternoon our representative,
passing beyond its limits, was delighted
to observe tbe orchards bursting into
luxuriant blossom. Mr. A. D. Thom
son, C.E., assures us, as the result of
a careful inspection, and speaking out
of a long and intimate experience of
horticulture, that in most cases tbe
trues in tbe storiii area, although their
blossom has been knocked about soiuu
what, rudely, will still be able to yield
their quota to the crop of three months
ahead, fcio pace the actual heavy suf
ferers, we end as we began. It might
have been a great deal worse. Only
in return for our cheerfulness we j
venture to suggest to Nature that she
abate her violence till af;er the
ingathering of our harvest at all events, i
The Irrigation Trust will be grateful |
for more rain later on, we make no
doubt, yet no one we can hear of has
any use for hailstones larger than
walnuts, and half an inch of concrete
; moisture in something under thirty
minutes is calculated to try the consli
j tution of the toughest rain guage.
$