oct. — dec. 1857.] Cyclone at Nellore. 



69 



truction, the N. W. pinnacle (15 feet high) of the tower fell from 

 a height of 60 feet through the roof of the west aisle, (the Church 

 is "built north and south), even the boards supporting the pulpit 

 cushions and the brackets of the wall-shades were broken by the 

 benches, which appear from the marks on the walls and pillars to 

 have flown about in all directions. The Court house, place of arms, 

 Public Bungalow, Jail, the new Engineer's Office, and the work shops, 

 in fact every tiled building suffered damage, and even the best 

 houses in the place were barely habitable, owing to the wind hav- 

 ing, in some cases, blown in the doors and windows, and in others 

 blown out the glass or forced the rain through the Venetians. The 

 pillars on the Annicut, recently built to carry the Telegraph wire, 

 which were 18 feet high and which were elliptical in plan, the dia- 

 meters at base being 4 J feet and 2', and at top 2^' and 1', were 

 blown away ; one being broken off at the base, another at 7', and 

 the third at 10 feet from the base, and the lower portions of the 

 latter two were so much injured, that they were carried off by the 

 river, when it had risen to about 5 feet above the crown of the 

 Annicut. At Nellore, very little loss of life appears to have 

 occurred, which is the more wonderful as many houses were blown 

 down, and some were crushed by falling of trees. Reports have not 

 yet been received from the neighbouring country, but the dead cat- 

 tle of all descriptions, both in the tank and in the river, show that 

 the destruction of animals has been very great. 



When I visited the Annicut this morning, I found 10 J feet 

 of water going over its crown, and the marks on the guage showed 

 that more than 1 1 feet had been reached. The superintendent in- 

 formed me that, up to \ past 11 a. m. yesterday, the water was 

 below the crown, but that it then commenced rising and in a couple 

 of hours had risen to 7 feet above the crown, and about 12 mid- 

 night it reached its highest level. The Head sluice recently erect- 

 ed has enabled us to control the water in the JafFersaib Channel, 

 but the Head of the Survapully Channel being open, owing to the 

 non-sanction of the estimate submitted last year for bringing it 

 under the Annicut main Channel, and closing the old head, the 

 flood has found its way in at this point, and inundated the country 

 to the east and south-east of Nellore, thereby doing much injury 



