The daily gazette., 1881-09-17
CURIOUS HAIL STORMS.


Hundreds OF Birds Killed and
Geneva.
A Geneva letter to the London Times
says:
Wednesdays hail storm, the occur.
renee of which mentioned In INV de.
spalch OF that day, has occasioned much
greater damage in this canton and In
savoy than the first accounts led me TO
suppose. The phenomena that attended
Il we're both singular and impressive.
Between 3 and o'clock 10 the morning
thunder storm of extraordinary VIC.
ieuce, coming from the region of the
jura, burst over the valley OF the Leman.
having its centre, apparently, immedl.
ately above Geneva. For the SPACE of
more than an hour the thunder and
lightning were incessant. The lightning
vas OF bright red color, the flashes FOL.
lowed each other so rapidly that there
sas no visible solution of their contin-
uity. ALI this time there was no down.
fall. Then, about 430, two great
columns OF hail, unaccompanied BY rain.
we're projected iroE the clouds. One
seemed TO come from the west, by the
Fo,t de PEcluse, the other from the
northwest, BY the Col de Ia FauciIle. In
three minutes the bail was followed bv
heavy downfall OF rain, which cont,n.
aed several hours; but In those three
minutes incalculable damage had been
done. sA
None of the hail-stones were smal,ar
tnan hazelnuis, while many were as big
as pigeons eggs. So lbickly did they
iaii that the feids in many places were
as "hite as IN mldwinter; and in the af.
ternoon, after twelve hours rain and
sunshine, they lay on the ground iD
heaps. Even this morning they were
not all gone. The vines aud fruit trees
which were struck by the storm are MT
teriy ruined; the ground was strewn In
all directions with bunches of grapes.
pears, apples, and plums, and q grape,
II ever so slightly touched by a hall
stone, is spoiled. After q few days'
exposure to the sun 1t begins to
decay, and Is of no use for wine.
making. Many of the peasants are in
despair, for they were counting on the
vintage, which was of splendid prom
Use, to make good to them the Losses
they have incurred by the long drous BIT,
There was no wind, and the hail
fortunately fell straight otherwise
the damage wourd have been much
greater. Skylights were broken, roofs
damaged, and conservatories and other
glass houses almost destroyed but
the windows, for the most part. are
untouched.
The birds, as may be supposed, were
great sufferers. At Colianoes, on the
other side of the lake, 600 dead and
hutllAted swallows, chafinchss and
sparrows were picked up in the Place
de pEglise, under three plane trees ;n
the branches Of which they had sought
refuge from the Storm. Belleriye
also, on the other side of the lake, was
still more unfortunate ; it was devas-
tated by the hail and struck by light
ming. Many fine trees were burst
asnnder and The pieces thrown te =
distance OF fifty PAGES. On Saturdav
last an equally destructive storm y;sy
tied the district of Morges, also on the
lake, and on Sunday pillar OF hail. .as
1t is here the custom to designate a
hail storm, committed great havoc In
tho valley OF Brois, canton Vaud.
The tobacco plants were nearly Ali
destroyed, and Oranges alone Ia small
commune of only 800 0inhabitants) sus-
tanned damage to the extent of 40, 0O0f.
But calamitous as these storms have
been, they are surpassed by that of
July. 1875, when hardly whole pane
OF glass was left In the canton of
9eneya, trees were stripped Of their
foliage, and calves killed while Qraxinc