The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-11-24 00:00:00

THUNDERSTORM AND FLOODS.

On Saturday afternoon London was visited by a
strong gale of wind, accompanied by heavy rain, ,3nt
o damage seems to have been done in consequence.
Tne storm also extended to various provincial distriebs,
where there was great destruction of property, and
large tracks of country were flooded.
Shortly after one o'clock on Saturday afternoon .a
terribc thunderstorm swept over Portsmouth. The,
wind blew from the west, and heavy falls of rain were
acc mpanied by a fierng ,haklitorm, wjaicilforttnnatejr,
lasted only a few miWeitY, 1Vhe.1.14e4 'wee lr
than have been sern sit ifttimioutlkfor many, yearn.
When the squall wateat its feight a llirge irOiefloating
bridge, which was moored by heavy chains on the
Gosport aide of athe harbour, was seen to be
swinging round, and it was found that the chain
on one side had succumbed to the combined force
of the wind and tide. The bridge just cleared
another which was running across the harbour. A
little distance off Wats her IMajesty's training ship
St. Vincent, having on board nearly 700 lads pre-
paring for the navy, and as the floating bridge swung.
it was feared that the other chains might snap, in
which case the bridge would probably have come into
collision with the big-hulled training ship, and serious
eoneequenoes m;ght have ensued. Meanwhile the force
of the wind lessened, and the bridge did nut break away
from her remaining chain. Ashore the damage done
during the gale was considerable, taking inte account
its brief duration. Horses drawing the tram cars
and other vehicles could not make way against the
combined rain and hail, by which in some parts of the
borough a good deal of glass was broken. In the public
park at Landport the top of a substantially erected
band stand was torn from the body of the structure
and carried a distance of some forty or fifty feet. and
an ornamental archway was completely wrecked. In
the same park serious damage was done to the monn-
ment erected to the memory of the officers and men
of her Majesty's ship Shah, who diei daring service in
the Pacific and South Africa, where she was des-
patched in consequence of the Zulu outbreak, the
marble obelisk being snapped off close to the pedestal.
About 100 yards of fencing abutting on the park, and
separating it from the railway was blown down. The
front of one of the shops of the ex-mayor (Alderman
Pink), in Oommercial•road, Landport, was blown in
several ehopmen having narrow escapes. A stack of
, chimneys of the ex-Mayor's private premises, and the
boarding of adjacent premises were carried away. In
another part of Landport a wall was blown down, and
chimney-pots, tiles, slates, in., fell in all directions.
In Commercial-road a laden truck was turned corn-
pletely over, and in another pelt of the borough a
number of packages were blown off a carrier's van,
and the driver unseated. At Sonthsea a window
which had just been closed was struck by the electric
current.

On Monday a terrific gale from the soutk•west
passed over the Orkney and Shetland Islands, senora.
panted by thunder and lightning sad a downpour of
rain.. The mail steamer St. .Rognvaltl was detained in
Shetland by the gale and heavy sea, widah is reported
to be the worst experienced in the North Sea for half
a century. The heavy rainfall flooded many fields.
Numbers of vessels took refuge in harbours in the
Islands.

During Monday night there was a very severe gall
in North Laneashire. At tines the wind blew most
fiereely, and then were beery falls of rain and hail.
Next morning some of the kills were white with the
bail.

During a violent storm at Galway on Monday
night, the spire of the Protestant Church was
struck by lightning, and osnght fire, but by the
prompt exertions of the Fire Brigade the flames were
soon extinguished.

On Tuesday morning a violent storm passed over
the Midlands between three and four o'clock.
mingham was visited by a terrific storm of thunder
and lightning, the latter being exceedingly vivid,
and striking the chimney of a building in the
suburbs. The rain came down literally in
sheets, and in the lower quarters of the town
the occupiers of several houses had to take refuge
in the upper rooms. The wind blew a hurricane, and
near Castle Bromwich, where a large tract of country
is under water, a little girl in attempting to cross a
road was carried away by the current, but was pluckily
rescued by a labourer who heard her cries for help.
Many trees were torn up by the roots or snapped from
off the trunk.