1889.] 



and May 1888 in the Voah avd Enhill;hand. 



1G5 



Eeplies. 



(1 ) Letter No. ^^^^^g dated SOth May, 1888, from the Collector of 

 Moradabad to the Meteorological Beporter to Govt. N.-W. P. and Oudh. 



With, reference to your 417 dated 16th May, 1888, I have the honour 

 to enclose a copy of my report ^ii^asa <iated 7th May, 1888, which gives 

 nearly all the information which I have been able to collect regarding 

 tlie late storm. 



2. Although, as I shall mention hereafter, there were slight storms 

 at other places, the really severe storm was confined to Moradabad and 

 a small area round it. It took place on 30th April. The dust-storm 

 began about 6 p. m., the hurricane and hail about a quarter past 6. 

 The hurricane and hail lasted between a quarter of an hour and twenty 

 minutes. It is of course not easy to determine the exact point of time 

 when the storm stopped. There was a good deal of wind, and very 

 strong wiud for some time afterwards. 



3. As far as I myself noticed the wind was north-west throughout. 

 Some of the tahsildars say that the wiud was first west and thou 

 changed to north. One tahsildar says that the wind was east, but I 

 have no doubt that this is a mistake. 



4. The wind was certainly travelling at about 60 miles an hour, 

 at least so I am informed by people who know more of such things than 

 I do. 



5. There was a terrific hailstorm ; the bigger hailstones were of the 

 size of small pigeon's eggs. 



6. For an answer to your question 5, see para. 5 of my report. 



7. It is very difficult to estimate the amount of the damage done. 

 Fortunately there was little damage done to crops, but tliere was a great 

 deal of damage to houses. The total damage done cannot have exceed- 

 ed, in my opinion, a lakh of rupees. It was the loss of life which made 

 the storm so noteworthy. 



8. Regarding the tahsils, there was no storm of any kind at 

 Bilai'i. There were slight storms with a little hail and rain at Thakur- 

 dwara and Amroha on the evening of the 30th and slight storms at Sam- 

 bhal and Hasanpur on the 1st of May. But all these storms were so 

 slight that they probably would not have been noticed had it not been 

 for their connection with the great storm at Moradabad. 



Moradabad does not boast a barometer, and thermometric observa- 

 tions do not appear to have been taken by any one during the storm. 

 Must people's roofs wore either blown off or tumbled in, a state of things 



