Weather and Climate (2000) 20: 23-28

THE CYCLONE OF 1936: THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE STORM OFTHE TWENTIETH CENTURY?

In late January 1936 a weakening tropicalcyclone m o v i n g towards N e w Zea landinteracted with a cold front over the northTasman Sea to fo rm one o f the deepestdepressions ever to cross the country. Themeteorological aspects of the depression weredescribed in a report published by Barnett in1938. H e d id no t describe i n deta i l thedestruction caused by the storm, l imi t inghimself to the comment" Graphic descriptionsof the effects of the storm can be found in thedaily press for the few days following the 2ndFebruary."

The following article is a summary of theaccounts in the newspapers, and shows thatthis was probably the most destructive stormto affect New Zealand during the twentiethcentury.

The tropical cyclone formed south of theSolomon Islands on January 28 then movedsoutheast to pass between New Caledonia andVanuatu. I t met up with the cold front north

Erick BrenstrumMetService

of New Zealand on the 31st and intensifiedthen crossed the North Island on the 2nd ofFebruary. I t was not assigned a name, as thepractice of routinely naming tropical cyclonesdid not begin until 1963.

FLOODING

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Heavy rain fell over the entire North Islandbringing most of the major rivers into flood.The Mangakahia River in Northland rose 19metres a t Titoki. Kaitaia main-street wasflooded a metre deep and one man wasdrowned there when a house was washedaway as he was trying to retrieve a friend'sbelongings. Another man was k i l led nearThames in the Coromandel when his hut wascarried into a flooded stream by a slip.

In Whangerei almost 300 mm of rain fell in24 hours and floodwater ran through thebusiness distr ict tearing up footpaths andentering buildings. Gelignite was used in an

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unsuccessful attempt to clear driftwood piledup against Victoria Bridge, which carried theroad to Whangerei Heads, where severalcottages were blown down.

At Waitangi the river rose two and a halfmetres in twenty minutes, forcing eight mensleeping on the floor of the Tung Oil Company'scookhouse to take refuge on the roof. Whenthe structure began to move they clamberedinto a tree, overhanging the cookhouse, whichwas later carried away by the flood. A trainwas marooned by washouts near Kaikohe and60 passengers had to spend the n igh t i ncarriages. The railway bridge at Whakapara25 k i lomet res n o r t h o f Whangerei wasdestroyed, stopping rail traffic for days.

In one va l ley no r th o f Kaukapakapafloodwater was so deep a house was inundatedso that only its chimneys were visible. Thepublic works settlement at Tangowahine wasflooded, and two young women, clad in theirbathing suits, waded round in the dark wakingthe inhabitants of the cottages. Some had no

The Cyclone of1936

time to dress themselves, and two had to swimto safety.

Torrential rain fell on the slopes of MountPirongria, between Kawhia and Te Awamutu,causing flash floods in the streams and gulliesrunning down its flanks. A huge landslide fellacross the valley floor of the Ngrutunui streamholding t he f loodwater u p l i k e a dam.Eventually, increased pressure carried awaythe obstacle, and an enormous body of waterswept down the riverbed with irresistible force,carrying away a large bridge and damaging 4kilometres of road. Both banks of the riverwere swept clean of soil and vegetation.

One observer saw rimu and kahikatea treesborne along by the torrent rear up when theirroots o r branches caught against someobstacle, and topple end over end, with a crashthat could be heard a long way off. When thewater subsided, he picked up 40 dead troutand counted hundreds of dead eels killed bythe rushing timber and large boulders carriedalong by the flood. Ten acres ploughed forturnips on a farm were stripped down to barerock when the flood carried all the soil away.

Drowned sheep, cattle, pigs, and chickens,mingled with trees, were seen floating downrivers all over the North Island.

In Hawkes Bay, the Tukituki River floodedthe settlement of Clive, cutting the road andrail l ink between Napier and Hastings anddrowning 1500 sheep in stock-yards. Tworailway buses were trapped when water brokethrough the stop banks. The passengers werecarried to safety on the shoulders of rescuersimmersed up to their necks in the water. TheTukituki also broke its banks at Waipukerau,drowning thousands of cattle and sheep andforcing the evacuation of 70 houses enteredby water over a metre deep. The Esk Riverflooded to a width of more than one kilometreand began to f low down an old channel,threatening the township, un t i l the river-mouth, which had been closed by the high sea,was reopened.

Roads and railway lines were inundated byflooding, and undermined by washouts,bridges were destroyed and slips came downin thousands all over the North Island. NearStratford the railway line was blocked by morethan a dozen slips, the biggest of which was500 metres long and full of trees. Another slipdiverted a stream so that i t flowed a metredeep through a tunnel, leaving it strewn with

The Cyclone of 1936

driftwood. A workman clearing one slip wasnearly buried when another came down on topof him. Passengers on the Service Car fromNew Plymouth to Wanganui waded throughwaist deep mud to transfer to a connectingvehicle when the road was blocked by a slip.

The Wanganui River inundated thousandsof acres of farmland, entered a number ofhouses, and carried away two spans of theShell Oil Company's wharf. The Okehu waterpipeline was cut leaving the city with only onedays supply. The nearby Whangaehu Riverrose almost two metres i n ha l f an hour,drowning hundreds o f sheep and f lowingthrough t h e Whangaehu h o t e l . T h eManawatu River rose five metres and floodedthe Taonui basin, turning it into an inland sea.

In the Wairarapa, the Ruamahanga Riverflooded farmland, cutting off Martinborough,and the Waipoua flooded several streets inMasterton. The Waiohine River flowed overthe m a i n h ighway f o r a t ime, a n d theRimutuka road was blocked by a large slip.The Whareama River in eastern Wairarapaflooded houses in Tinui and covered cars inthe main street. At Kopuaranga, just north ofMasterton, a 1 4 t o n t r a c t i o n eng inedisappeared into a river, normally only a metredeep, and still had not been found several dayslater.

STORM SURGE

Storm surge occurred along the east coastof the North Island, causing extreme high tidestopped by large waves. At Te Kaha, in the Bayof Plenty, a sea higher than any in l iv ingmemory washed a house into the ocean andswept away eight fishing boats. The road waswashed away in some places, and in otherscovered by heavy logs and piles of driftwood.Near East Cape, huge seas entered the estuaryof the Awatere River smashing part of a cordialfactory a t Te Araroa. E igh t whales werethrown up on the beach between Te Araroaand East Cape. Fishing launches were drivenashore at Whitianga in the Coromandel. O nWaiheke I s l a n d a d i n g y l e f t t i e d t o apohutukawa tree was found dangling like achristmas decoration after five metres of beachwas washed a w a y f r o m u n d e r i t . A tCastlepoint, on the Wairarapa Coast, the seawashed away the sandhi l ls and invadedhouses a hundred metres inland. In Wellingtonthe sea flooded the waterfront roads, and in

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Marlborough the roaring of the surf on CloudyBay beach was plainly audible in Blenhiem.

WIND DAMAGE

The wind blew in windows from Picton toKaitaia, and brought down hundreds o fthousands of trees, cutting power, telephoneand telegraph lines all over the North Island.Palmerston North was hardest hit. Houses lostroofs, chimneys were blown down, and dozensof plate glass windows in the business districtwere blown in. The grandstands of the A&PAssociation, the Awapuni Racecourse and theSportsground were demolished, and a manwas killed when he was blown off his roof ashe tried to repair it. Hoardings, fences andbrick wal ls were b lown over. One largebuilding housing 12 cars collapsed like a packof cards damaging all of the vehicles. Twenty-eight large trees came down over the mainpower lines in one 120-metre stretch of road.

A t ra in was derailed near Makerua justsouth o f Palmerston North. The last twocarriages and the guard's van were caught bythe wind and thrown down a bank into theMakerua swamp, which fortunately was dry.Although the train had been travelling about40km/h only five of the 30 or so people in thecarriages were badly in jured, requ i r ingst i tching for wounds and t rea tment fo rconcussion. A number o f empty ra i lwaywagons on sidings at Levin and Linton wereblown over and the small railway station atKarere was destroyed. Fallen trees blocked theline between Levin and Otaki and passengershad to cut through them wi th axes beforetrains could pass.

Nearby, at Manakau, a blacksmith shop andparish hall were levelled to the ground, twolarge greenhouses were destroyed by fallingtrees, part of the roof of the dairy co-op liftedoff, and cream cans were scattered 150 metresdown the road.

At Longburn, the Anglican church wasdemolished and scattered over the road andrailway line. A hall also lost its roof, as did ahouse, where the chimney also fell in. A horseon a nearby farm was cut in two by a flyingsheet of corrugated iron. Three huts next tothe rai lway station were blown over. Onesomersaulted three times with the occupantrolling about inside along with a heavy stove.His wife had just stepped outside when thehut lifted and toppled over missing her by half

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a metre. She was blown into a clump of willowtrees and from where she was extricated bythe stat ionmaster. The occupant o f theadjacent hut was imprisoned when i t landedface down, and he had to cut his way outthrough the floor.

The Fielding Aero club hanger was blownaway and the two planes inside destroyed. Amotorist on the main road near Te Matai waschased by a large corrugated iron tank, whichraced across the paddock towards him. I tjumped the fence, but luckily only struck hiscar a g lanc ing blow. Elsewhere i n t h eManawatu, barns, woolsheds, and cowshedswere destroyed, one breaking the leg of thefarmer inside it.

The avenue of trees at Massey AgriculturalCollege was blown down over the road so thatthe only way to get through was to make adetour the the college grounds. The collegeauthorities objected to this and closed thegates. A motorist retaliated by filing throughthe padlock.

Buildings were also destroyed in Taranaki.In Inglewood, the badminton hall blew downand the Anglican Church lost its roof. In NewPlymouth the Frankleigh Park ha l l wasdestroyed. I n Waitara a number o f largebuildings disintegrated, and a 25 metre steeland brick chimney was blown over, as was theHarbour Board beacon tower. In Rotorua, thehistor ic A n g l i c a n m i s s i o n c h u r c h a tOhinemutu was blown down.

Shop windows in Auckland were blown inand some houses lost roofs. In Cornwall Park,hundreds of trees were snapped off or uprootedaccompanied by sounds likened to cannon fire.Falling trees brought down power lines in allsuburbs and also delayed trams The AucklandGliding Club hanger disintegrated and all thegliders were destroyed. Iron and wood wasstrewn over hundreds of metres and one wingwas blown a kilometre away.

A hunter and a tramper died of exposure inthe Tararua Ranges north of Wellington. A tthe height o f the storm trees were beinguprooted from the ridges and thrown bodilyinto the valleys, and the Waiopehu hut wasblown in to a gul ly. Trampers describedwhirlwinds in the gale twisting the crowns oftrees around until all the braches splinteredoff. The trunks of some of these trees are stillstanding today, more than sixty years afterthey died. All of the rivers rising in the TararuaRanges were in flood: the Hutt river breaking

The Cyclone of1936

its banks and covering the main road a tSilverstream, and the Otaki rising to within afoot o f the decking on the main highwaybridge.

Among the more unusual effects o f thestorm was the discovery, at Taupo, of a redbilled tropic bird (amokura), brought down bythe gales from the Kermadec Islands, whichlie about 1000 k i lometres nor theast o fAuckland. Tropic birds are rarely seen in NewZealand. According to the ornithologist Buller,Maori i n t h e N o r t h Cape a r e a w o u l dsystematically search the beaches for themafter an easterly storm as they valued theirred feathers, and traded them south forgreenstone.

Local birds also suffered in the storm. Thecourtyard of the Friend's Hostel in Kelburnwas strewn with the bodies of scores of deadsparrows kil led by the wind and rain. Thehostel matron nursed several dozen more birdsthrough the storm, keeping them warm in ashoebox.

AGRICULTURAL DAMAGE

The wind wrought havoc in orchards all overthe North Island, destroying a large portionof the crop. In Henderson it was impossible towalk through some orchards without standingon fallen fruit. I n Wairoa apples and pearswere seen flying horizontally for some distancefrom the trees. Crops like maize, wheat andoats were f lattened f rom Marlborough toNorthland, and haystacks blew away in manyplaces. I n Pukekohe, potato plants weresheared off at ground level. There were alsocases of sheep and cattle being killed by fallingtrees. Floodwaters destroyed crops of peas inMarlborough, strawberries and tomatoes inWanganui, oats in Wairarapa and kumera inNorthland.

DAMAGE TO SHIPPING

In Auckland, 40 boats were sunk or drivenashore in the Waitemata Harbour and severalmore in the Manukau Harbour. Two boatswere wrecked on Rangitoto Island and theoccupants in ju red on the rocks as theyclambered ashore. A fishing launch from NewPlymouth was lost at sea and the father andson crew presumed drowned. Two coastaltraders suffered damage off the North Island'sWest Coast. Huge seas stove in the crew'squarters on one vessel and washed a half ton

The Cyclone of 1936 2 7

chest off the deck, while 20 sheep were killedon the deck of the other vessel and anotherfour sheep washed overboard.

Numerous small boats were wreaked inWellington Harbour and a coastal steamer wasdriven ashore near Kaiwharawhara. The onlyman on board was a caretaker, who wasrescued by sliding down a rope sitting insidea lifebelt. Pounding waves also washed awaythe ground underneath the railway line nearNgahauranga, l eav ing h a l f t he t r ackssuspended in mid-air. Part of the Te Aro bathsin Oriental Bay blew away and was chasedacross the water by the Harbour Board'slaunch.

Disaster was only narrowly averted whenthe inter-island ferry Rangatira steamed intoRed Rocks f ive ki lometres to the west o fWellington Harbour mouth in winds almostas bad as the day 32 years later when theWahine sank. After twenty minutes stuck fastthe ship was able to reverse off the rocks thenturn and back slowly along the coast and intothe harbour, taking water in through gapingholes in her bow. Her propellers were half outof the water by the time she grounded next tothe C lyde Q u a y wha r f , a n d h e r l owerpassenger decks were awash. Fortunately,none of the 800 passengers and crew sufferedserious injury, although many were plainlyterrified by their experience.

DAMAGE BILL

I t is interesting to consider the cost of asimilar storm's damage were one to occuragain. Cyclone Bola, i n 1988, has beenestimated to have caused $111 million damageto Gisborne (Salinger 1998). Bola was slowermoving than the 1936 depression, and so therainfall was greater and the flooding worse inthose regions that bore the brunt of Bola.Using the rough rule of thumb that no provincein 1936 suffered more than half the damagedone to the Gisborne region by Bola, bu tallowing for the fact that the whole NorthIsland was badly damaged in 1936, yields anestimate of roughly $800 million damage fora repeat o f the 1936 storm. T h i s roughestimate could doubtless be improved upon byeconomists looking in close detai l a t thedamage t h a t occurred i n 1936 and alsoconsidering what new expensive targets nowl i t ter the landscape. However, i t makes auseful s ta r t ing po int for evaluat ing theeconomic impact of a similar storm in the nearfuture.

REFERENCESBarnett M.A.F. The Cyclonic Storms in Northern New

Zealand on 2nd February and the 26th March 1936.Department of Scientific and Industr ial ResearchMeteorological Office Note No.22.1938

Salinger J in Awesome Forces Edited by Geoff Hicks andHamish Campbell published by Te Papa Press 1998