Cyclone Rosie Hits Nelson

"Cyclone Rosie" swept through Nelson last month leaving a trail of damage amounting to many thousands of dollars in her wake. The fringe of the cyclone, which gusted up to 70 miles an hour on one occasion, ripped iron from roofs, uprooted huge trees, smashed windows, disrupted telephone circuits and stripped fruit trees before its force abated. Nelson city bore the brunt of the gale and those properties on the hills and unprotected flats open to the south-east were worst hit of all. Some orchards in the Stoke area lost up to a third of their fruit-mostly Gravenstein apples almost ready for picking and fruit trees were burned by the severity of the blast. Business premises did not escape unscathed. At the very exposed Port Nelson reclamation, longrun iron was whipped from a fertiliser shed of Transport Nelson and sent flying down the road. The picture Above shows a sheet of iron from the shed in the background flying towards our photographer (who himself was flying a split second after the picture was taken). The warehouse of Briscoes Ltd., a short distance away, had its eastern wall ripped open by the gale and iron stripped from the roof (Left). Nelson streets were choked with the debris of leaves, branches and other rubbish and City Council workmen faced a major clean-up operation.

A builder's shed on a building site on Britannia Heights was burst open by the wind and then systematically torn to bits

One of several trees at the Moller Fountain reserve split by the gale

Campers at the Nelson Motor Camp spent an uncomfortable night

A big shed which housed three cars and which faced on to Muritai Street, Tahunanui, was lifted bodily and flung backwards-without even scratching one of the cars.

Two of the three cars on the site once occupied by the demolished shed (in the background)

Those in tents at the motor camp had trouble in battening down the hatches

The scene at Harcourt Orchards, Stoke, where manager Mr Don Carter estimated that almost a third of the Gravenstein crop and a big percentage of the pear crop was ripped from the trees (an estimated $2000 loss).

A huge macrocarpa tree was uprooted and crashed through a shed and laundry alongside a house at 74 Mount Street, narrowly missing a room in which two young women were sitting.

Previous article Issue contents Next article

The Nelson Photo News

No 123 : February 6, 1971

Cyclone Rosie Hits Nelson