Klori/Manilla Tornado - October 8, 1932
I’ve been aware of this event all of my life - my Grandmother and Great Aunt used to talk about it. They had crouched in a ditch, with the rest of the family, after their father rushed them out of the house as the tornado approached their farm. The house still stands.
Northern Daily Leader, October 10, 1932
A cyclone of remarkable severity, with a front of some several hundred yards width, swept through portions of Manilla district on Saturday afternoon between 3 and 4 o’clock, and was responsible for damage, according to reports from people living in the vicinity, amounting to many hundreds of pounds.
The visitation, it is stated, was of such force that telephone poles on the Tamworth-Manilla Road were completely uprooted and the tiles and brickwork of a large house know as The Braes, occupied by Mr. Oswald, were completely blown in, causing extensive damage to the interior of the house and furniture. Luckily the inhabitants escaped injury.
Mr. S. Park, whose property adjoins The Braes, told “The Northern Daily Leader” last night that the track of the cyclone cut a course at right angles to the road at a point 21 miles from Tamworth. It appears to have been first felt according to Mr. Charles Coote, on the Rushes Creek, and moved across to Mr. Sullivan’s, and Mr. A. Baldwin’s , doing extensive damage, principally to fencing as it went. It is said that Mr. Coote’s house was practically demolished, and wire netting fences were completely flattened. The next residence to come in for an infuriated attack was that of Mr. Row Maunder, the roof of whose home was blown in, and furniture wrecked. Out sheds were town [torn] about by the terrific force of the blast, galvanised iron being whipped off twisted round the trees as easily as paper.
Railway Siding Demolished
Klori railway siding offered little resistance. In the first full blast this wooden building was twisted into matchwood and even the weighty scales and weighbridge were blown over.
Reaching the Tamworth-Manilla Road at the 21 miles peg, the cyclone here did considerable damage to the telephone lines, blowing the poles out of the ground. The service was interrupted for the reminder of the afternoon, and communication from Tamworth with Manilla was not restored until a late hour on Sunday night.
Damage at the Braes
The first house on the other side of the road was that of Mr. G.L.Oswald, of The Braes, a large brick residence that can be seen easily from the road. The wind struck this building with such terrific force that the tiled roofing was completely blown in, as well as some of the brickwork thus loosened, and crashing into the rooms of the home, it is reported, did extensive damage to the interior of the house and furniture, as well as crockery and glassware. Two women in the house at the time were lucky to escape injury. The lighter buildings naturally were unable to withstand the sudden onslaught, and completely wilted under the first blast.
Although no further damage has been reported, it is evident that any other buildings in the path of the heavy wind could hardly have escaped damage, especially as trees and even windmills were blown over.
It is reported by another resident who was in the vicinity when the tornado passed that the visitation resembled an enormous funnel of cloud linking the earth and the heavens, bearing a striking resemblance to a typhoon at sea.
Transmission Line Suffers
The Tamworth-Manilla power transmission line suffered only slight damage over the half mile-strip. The poles and main lines were undamaged, despite the terrific force of the wind, but the tie-wires holding them to the insulators were broken, and the lines were swinging halfway down the poles in some places. The height of the poles is 45ft.
The variation in the current along the line was reported from the Tamworth power station at 4.10, and the Council’s Overseer (Mr. R. Cross), began an inspection. The fault was detected by 6.45, and soon afterwards the current was switched on again, thus avoiding any serious interruption