Lower coast gazette., 1909-10-30
Some Cyc!onic pnenon'esia OF Inc ocp=
tegnhcr Storm.

raising the dust on the roads and carrying t'
dust and other like material OD"aHd Ii tUHnei
shane. During the recent storm It has Decn
reported that severe disaster was experienced
in 2 piven place and the storm then apparently
rising would skip over q mile or two and then
AGAIN begin it's disastrous career. The center
of these storms is distinguished by q 20"
barometer and in the absolute center there IS 4
u~yarticai vacuum. which induces an upward cur
rent Of wind that will lit Jho roof OH z build
INC. as was reported rs having occurred IN 81.
Charles Parish, without doing any harm. Some
wears back the immense roof OF the Bclali sugar
house in this parish was lifted some five OF SIX
feet and then dropped back, slightly i1attened
out. We have been informed that IN The Fa'1sh
of Terrebonne an empty OIL tank had us sioe
forced inward. This collapse Of the tank m
ward indicated a great outside pressure, DAT
suggests also the c~yclonlc vacuum WITHIN the
tank. An internal vacuum OF q few POUNDS per
square inch added to the external pressure at a
o;ven point apparently brought about the dis
aster to that oil tank. It is further reported
that in the great slab burning chimney at the
cypress saw mills at Bowie, near Bayou La
fourche, the slab burner was lndented very con-
siderable by the storm and apparently by the
cyclonic vacuum made IN 1t.
Some years back we saw in the yard Of the
residence of Mr.. Daniel Thompson at Calumet,
ON Bayou Teche, moderate sized live oaks, two
or three ia number and lC or Y inches IN
diameter, which had apparently been IN lire OF
q cyclone tWister, and the tops were twisted OFT
and all this done SO suddenly that the lower
part. or trunks of the trees seemed to have been
almost nndisturbed. From these data we may
see the causes Of the different degrees Of injury
to the cane crop that were apparent IN the fields
in the line of the storm. Some places seem TO
he almost untouched and others have suffered
severely. It is said that some of these cyclones
are Of vast diameter and move the reverse OF
the hands of the clock and give baromet1lcal
readings at or near their centers way down TO
about 23 inches, as was the case in the recent
storm.
Fifty years ago it was quite the custom in
Louisiana to build frame buildings very strong
". with diagonal braces at the top corners and
at the bottom corners, as we'll as with heavy
caps and sils. In these latter days there IS a
tendency to build wooden buildings OF very
light materials and without any diagonal brac-
ing whatever. Such houses if caught while
building will fall down, as was the case recently
in some instances, and if completed, depend fol
their strength and power Of strong resistance
upon the weather boarding upon the outside
2 and upon the ceiling inside, all Of which com
bine to make quite a strong building and per
haps sufficiently strong. We don't know of an!
such that have experienced storm injuries 81
far as the frame work was concerned. Thu
disastrous effects of the storm has been upo1
the little shacks, put up in the balloon fran
style, weather boarded only and sometimes no
even that, but built with straight up and dow
planks and no framing whatever, and whe
such great storms these frail structures Civ
way and much loss of life resulted from thl
cause in the great storm of October 1898.
The novel phenomena now under consider;
ton. the calapse or internal bending or linden
ing of the oil tank in Terrebonne Parish and tt
saw mill slab burner at Bowie seem difficult
account for on any other than the vacuum hyp
thesis. 1t has been urged by one of our Louis
ana scientists that in the actual center of the
w~hirlwinds or cyclones, great or small, the
may be an almost complete vacuum, dependl1
upon the intensity of the storm. Probably
barometrical observation was ever taken rig
in the actual center of a cyclone or water spot
If a cyclone at sea can act as a water spout a
draw the water up bodily, as many of us ha
seen. it would indicate a very considerable {
gree of vacuum as a vacuum will only ra
water SO feet high and the greater heights
Y tanned by the c~yclonic action would be the
suit of the tightening of the water with the
truding air pressing on with the water up
line of vacuum created by the storm, or VIII
wind. There may have been some other sln'
lar phenomena in the country in this connect
that deserve study and we should be glad if
of our correspondents would send us in 50
notes thereon.
The Shipment OF Oysters.
TrE n,,ra food hnrpa, of the u. 5, Dep: