Hartley Neita
MANY OF us associate disasters caused by tornadoes, water spouts and whirlwinds with other countries.
So a news item on CVM-TV on Wednesday night that a tornado had destroyed the home of a woman in Hartlands, St. Catherine. was a surprise to many persons. And that the tornado lifted her stove, carried it in the air and dropped it one mile away, sounded like a science fiction story, or another of Jamaica's famous "Old Wives Tales".
POWERFUL TORNADO IN 1804
Yet, there is a record in our history that on September 24, 1804, there was "a powerful tornado at Middle Quarters in St.Elizabeth. Damage was, however, confined to trees which were uprooted in its path of about one mile".
There have also been water spouts in our waters. One such was seen in the sea just off the coast of the village of Dry Harbour, as Discovery Bay was then known, on October 26, 1936. More recently, on October 22, 1975, there was "a massive water spout in the sea accompanied by freak winds estimated at over 60 miles per hour, which threw guests at the Holiday Inn and residents in nearby parts of the Rose Hall sector of Montego Bay into a panic".
Hotel guests who were enjoying drinks by the swimming pool were blown into it. Six inches of water swamped some hotel rooms on the lower floors. And in other parts of Rose Hall, trees were uprooted, shanty houses were blown down, and some up-scale residences were inundated.
SMALL WHIRLWINDS
From time to time you can see small whirlwinds, one and two feet in diameter, spinning in our yards and on our roads. Children are attracted to them and trail them for a few yards until they disappear.
In 1956, a number of major whirlwinds were recorded. One such was in St. Elizabeth on January 20, 1956. Roofs of the homes of Clinton McLear, Lena Francis, Jack Simpson, Gwendolyn Knight and Dempster Holness in Upper Lititz in St. Elizabeth, were ripped off and blown away. In addition, two shops and outbuildings owned by Reggie Holness and Wilfred McDonald were also damaged.
Six months later, on June 9, 1956, it was reported that a whirlwind swirled through Falmouth, Trelawny, tearing the S.S. Gascony from her moorings, smashing seven lighters, and sending some 50 tons of sugar into the sea. Stevedores and boatmen swam ashore in the panic. The Gascony which had anchored to take 35,000 tons of sugar and 1,000 packages of rum, subsequently left the port when the whirlwind subsided as there were no lighters remaining to continue loading it.
Eighteen days later, another whirlwind with windforce estimated at 50 miles per hour swept through Montego Bay in St. James, twisting trees, blowing down fences and shattering windows. It lasted about five minutes, during which, traffic was brought to a temporary halt.
The following month, on August 15, a whirlwind struck Green Island in Hanover, damaging buildings and trees. And more recently, a whirlwind damaged the roofs of five chicken houses at the Whitfield Farms in Toll Gate in Clarendon, killing 1,867 chickens.
So, if you see a tiny whirlwind spinning leaves and twigs, round and round, be careful. It could grow and carry you a mile away.
