["The Hurricane in the Nor'-West", The West Australian, Friday 08 April 1898, page 5]
THE HURRICANE IN THE NOR'-WEST.
BALLA BALLA IN RUINS.
LARGE LOSS OF STOCK.
Roebourne, April 7.
The Harding River is now crossable. The General Gordon Hotel, on the Eastern Harding, was flooded. Mr. Dalton, Mrs. W. Matthews and children, and some men were staying at the hotel. Fearing that the flood waters would wash the building away, they left for high land, where they spent the night with only a small open shed for shelter.
The cutter Lilly arrived at Cossack yesterday. The master reports that no damage was done by the hurricane to Port Hedland. The Woodbrook homestead is quite, safe.
Captain Odman, master of the steamer Albany, states that the blow at sea was very much more stiff than that during the storm which the ship got into off Onslow a few months ago.
In digging round the stern of the steamer Beagle to-day it was discovered that she has a hole in the bottom under the engine room.
Captain F. L. Parkes telegraphs that the western pearling fleet is safe. There was a stiff blow near Mangrove Islands. Telegrams from all parts of the colony have been received by the local civic bodies expressing regret at the disaster caused, and sympathy with the sufferers.
Mr. M. McMahon, who has just arrived from Balla Balla, reports that the place is a total wreck. A portion only of Matthews and Co.'s hotel is left. All the other buildings have been demolished. A Chinaman and a native woman were drowned. The telegraph line is down for miles. The carcases of sheep, horses, and cattle are lying everywhere. The bodies of thirty one horses and seventeen cattle are to be seen lying in one spot on the common.
The Postmaster-General (Mr. R. A. Sholl) yesterday received the following telegram from the postmaster at Roebourne (Mr. J. O. Tepper):--"McMahon, blacksmith, of Balla Balla, the first man through, reports that the hurricane destroyed the post offices at Balla Balla and Whim Creek completely, only the floors being left. As far as he could see, and for the miles he had travelled along the line the telegraph poles are broken off at the sockets. Sheep are lying dead in hundreds. Every building in Balla Balla and Whim Creek are more or less wrecked. No fatalities occurred, but there were two or three severe casualties."
The Under-Secretary for Public Works (Mr. M. E. Jull) states that the Department will immediately effect the necessary temporary repairs to the Cossack stock jetty, which was damaged considerably in the hurricane. A quantity of stock is awaiting shipment, and the repairs must be carried out before they can be embarked. The town jetty will also be repaired at once. As regards the lighthouse, the glass was blown in, and it has been found impossible to procure similar material in the colony in time to forward it by the steamer Karrakatta. In consequence the panes of glass on the landward side will be taken out and be inserted on the seaward side, while the apertures on the landward side will be boarded up.
The Commissioner of Police (Colonel Phillips) received the following telegram yesterday from Inspector Drewry, of Roebourne:--"Nearly all the buildings at Balla Balla swept away, and all the boats wrecked. Loss of life reported - one Chinaman and one native woman."
