West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Tuesday 24 March 1953, page 1


CYCLONE STRIKES IN

NORTH-WEST: WIDE RAINS Sweeping in from the north-east on Sunday night a cyclone caused havoc in Onslow and the hinterland of Carnarvon, but brought welcome rains over a huge area of pastoral country. First eye-witness accounts of effects of the cyclone were received in Perth last night.

Over 10in. of rain fell at Onslow in less than 12 hours and North-West Cape received 13in. in the same period. An unofficial estimate of dam-age caused in the Carnarvon hinterland was given last night as £200,000. With scores of buildings un-roofed and six bays of the jetty swept away, Onslow yesterday morning looked like a town that had been bombed overnight. All business in the town was at a standstill while the community of 200 took stock of the damage. Although storm warnings had been issued for three days be-fore the blow, indications were that the centre of the depression was farther north,and the town and district did not prepare for a storm of such fury. Wind Wind from the north-east start-ed in strength at 4 p.m. on Sun-day, and by 9 p.m. had reached a maximum of 114 m.p.h. While the barometer dropped to 28.89. the wind wrenched sheets of iron from buildings and carried them away as though they were chaff. Tremendous seas pounded Ons-low jetty and rolled high on the foreshore. Onslow township yesterday morning was strewn wreck-age. Three houses were almost de-molished, and few buildings had escaped some damage. One middle section of the jetty had disappeared and other parts were wrecked. Miles of the telegraph line from Onslow were down. Twisted poles and tangles of wire mark-ed the path of the gale. Airstrip Out The Onslow airstrip was al-most completely under water yesterday morning. A Department of Civil Avia-tion spokesman said that it might be several days before the strip was fit for service again. The water supply will need to receive immediate attention be-cause three mills were demolish-ed and a pump-room was almost buried under tons of sand. Local stores have a big supply of tinned food on hand, but it may be two weeks before ad-ditional supplies can be obtain-ed. A pearling lugger owned by Neil Clark, which was lying in Beadon Creek to four anchors, was blown ashore and is now high and dry many yards from the waters' edge. A number of small boats are missing from their moorings. The main homestead at Mr. E. Payne's Yardie Creek station, Armadale, was extensively dam-aged, and outbuildings and stock pens were demolished. At Carnarvon The cyclone hit Carnarvon a little before dawn yesterday. There was considerable damage in many parts of the town. For 12 Lours howling winds and driving rains swept the coun-tryside. Wind velocity was about 75 miles an hour. The barometer dropped quickly yesterday morning and remained at 29.24deg. until late in the afternoon when it rose slightly. ''Up to 3 p.m. 69 points of ram had fallen. In the town fences are down, trees uprooted and chimneys blown away. The town is in a quagmire. The verandah of the "Northern Times" office was ripped off and the plate-glass windows were smashed. Telegraph communications, which were widely disrupted, were restored yesterday after-noon. Communication with Onslow, however, was maintained by radio. (At Plantations, Page 3.)

Five U.S. States Are Buffeted NEW YORK, Mon.—The mid-South was struck by a series of tornadoes and windstorms yes-terday, leaving one dead, at least five injured and property dam-age estimated at more than 1,000,000 dollars (about £446, 000). The winds swept the same gen-eral sections in Arkansas, Lousi-ana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee that were hit in March of last year by torna-does that killed 221 and caused 30,000,000 dollars damage.