Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1879 — Another Tornado on the Atlantic Coast. [ARTICLE]

Another Tornado on the Atlantic Coast.

Boston. Mass., Angtut I*. Considerable (lainago was done by tbe storm last night along the New England coast. The yachting fleet at booth Boston was baalv us4d. At Portland;' Me., several yachts and schoon-, jers were tuhk. Other towns along the coast report a long list of disasters to local craft and property.. New York, August 19. Ncwburyport, Mass., experienced a storm this mortting, and it was the severest in teq years. The wind blew a hurricane, Wrecking four yachts, badly wreuchiug steamers and schooners in the harbor, and scattering about twenty small boats. The fruit trees were stripped, and tents on the beach were leveled or blown into the sea. At Newport, between twenty and thirty sail-boats are sunk or damaged. Three yachts h&ye sunk at the wharf, while others dragged anchors, fouled and were damagetL Tho velocity of the wind at Cape May was sixty-four miles. Total rainfall, 8 46-100 inches. Tho crew of a schooner ashore at Atlantic City were taken from the rigging at three this morning by a life-saving crew. The vessel will be a total loss. Norfolk, Va., had the severest rainstorm and tornado ever experienced. Many buildings are unroofed and flooded, trees uprooted, and shipping damaged. Many vessels are dragging anchor. The Boston Steamship Com pany’s warehouses have been Severely damaged. The wharves all along the river front and many of the warehouses have been flooded. The tide was higher than over known, and the vicinity of Water street was only accessible by boats, the sight being unexampled even to the “ oldest inhabitant.” The handsome spire of the Freeman Street Baptist Church was blown down; tbe slating of Christ Episcopal Church and the cornice and steeple ornaments of St. Mary’s Catholic Church were torn oft’, whilst the beautiful grounds of old St. Paul’s arc badly wrecked. Great anxiety prevailed during the prevalence of the storm, and the Mayor ordered out the entire police force and Fire Department. The toss is' estimated from *200,000 to $300,000.

Tho damage to growing crops in counties adjacent to Petersburg, Va., is very great. In Surrey County alone th« damage to corn is estimated at fifty per cent. Tho Ocean Grove camp-grounds, below Long Branch, suffered severely. At Gloucester, Mass., several vessels dragged ashore last night. At other points on the New England coast vessels were beached, but thus far no loss of life is reported. The storm at Morehead City, N. C., was the most violent which ever visited that place. At six a. m. it blew a hurricane from the southwest, a change which saved Beaufort and Morehead from entire destruction. The Atlantic House, the largest hotel in that part of the country, is entirely demolished, not a vestige being left. There were one hundred and fifty guests in it, and there was not a particle of clothing saved by any of them. The people did not begin to leave until the waves wore literally breaking the hotel to pieces—then there was a stampede. The young men saved all tbcladies and children at the danger of their own lives. All baggage, furniture, etc., went to destruction. John Hnghes, son of Major Hughes, of Ncwbern, lost his life in the wreck of the Atlantic House. The front street of Beaufort is strewn with lumber, trunks and goods, ana crowds of people, some barefooted, are trying to identify their property. The Ocean View House, the other hotel at Beaufort, is damaged badly, and many private houses are ruined. There is not a wharf left in Beaufort, and only two or three of hundreds of sail-boats are fit to sail in. Morehead City also suffered terribly. Norfolk, Va., August 19. The gale at Cape Henry was terrific, blowing out some of the glasses of the lighthouse, the first case of the kind on record. The damage to coasting-ves-sels is very heavy, also to crops along the coast. Fortress Monroe, August 19. A tornado raged here yesterday, and the rainfall from seven a. m. until tw* p. m. was five inches. Shade-trees in and about the fort went d#wn by hundreds.