The storm reached Edwardsville where the destruction was devastating.
The signal box on the Taff Vale Railway was severely damaged, and all the trees in the path of the storm, which was now 150 yards wide, were torn from the ground and flattened, blocking the old tramroad with timber, whilst at Goitre Coed Farm, a horse and cart were hurled against the wall of the barn.
At Edwardsville the storm first hit Prospect Place, all but demolishing the cottages there, before reaching Beechgrove Cemetery where the wind flattened most of the tombstones, demolished the cemetery chapel and caused severe damage to the sexton’s house.
The storm moved on to Windsor Road, Nantddu Terrace and The Avenue where tremendous damage was done to most of the houses, and the post office was almost totally destroyed. The postmaster’s son, 13 year old Gomer Israel was seriously injured and was rushed to Merthyr General Hospital with a fractured skull. He would eventually succumb to his injuries a few days later.
Professor T D Edwards who lived at Rock Cottages had the roof blown off his house. Such was the force of the gale that he later found a ladder embedded in the wall of his house. As neither he nor any of his neighbours owned a ladder, one can only speculate how far this ladder had been blown for it to be so firmly embedded. On a lighter note, one of his neighbours had gone to bed early and was woken by the noise of the storm…..only to find himself, in waking up, in a different bedroom to the one in which he had gone to sleep!!!
A few doors away, the roof was ripped off the Edwardsville School, and the English Congregational Chapel was severely damaged. The chapel’s caretaker, Mrs Wheeler, was cleaning the chapel with her two daughters at the time the storm hit. They were buried by debris and had to be rescued. One of the daughters, Gertrude, aged 9, sustained serious injuries and was taken to King Edward VII Hospital in Cardiff.
On 27 October, Ton Pentre Football Club had been playing at Treharris. The team were returning to the Railway Station when the storm hit. Frank Owen (Corby) Woolford, right-back and captain of Ton Pentre FC, Walter Breeze, trainer at Ton Pentre FC and Fred Tregrage another player and were walking ahead of the rest of the team. As they entered The Avenue, the full force of the storm hit and all three were picked up off their feet and hurled over 50 yards. Breeze and Tregrage were injured, but Woolford was hit by a falling slate which sliced through his head. A local policeman, P.C. Fisher rendered first aid at the site and the injured men were taken to a nearby shop where Dr Evans, Maesybryn treated Woolford. A car was immediately made available by Mr Thomas, a local chemist, and Frank Woolford was rushed to Merthyr General Hospital for emergency treatment. Woolford’s injuries proved too great and he died at 2am the following morning. He was 22 years of age.
Elsewhere in Treharris, everyone did what they could to help with the injured and homeless. Rev J R Morgan, the minister at Trinity Forward Movement Chapel in Treharris, who lived in Edwardsville gave shelter to many people at his home. His neighbour Rev Thomas, minister at Saron Welsh Wesleyan Chapel in Treharris, immediately offered assistance, despite his own house being badly damaged.
Having caused devastation at Edwardsville, the storm left the valley and began to lose some of its force, and it travelled in a straight line via Cefn Forest before hitting Bedlinog. Houses were damaged in Hylton Terrace and Bedw Road, but the force was going out of the storm. Leaving Bedlinog, the storm continued over the Rhymney Mountain and on to Tredegar where the torrential rain overwhelmed the drains and caused severe flooding.
The storm continued to move northwards throughout the night, but having left the confines of the Taff Valley, the storm’s ferocity had by now dissipated, and the storm front was now about 7 miles in width. However, the storm continued to leave a trail of destruction in its path with severe damage to buildings reported in Shropshire and Cheshire, until it eventually abated during the night.
An investigation was instigated by the Meteorological Office (now known simply as the Met Office) in the aftermath of the storm, and concluded that the tornado contained winds blowing in an anti-clockwise direction. Reports of the tornado’s duration varied from two seconds to five minutes. The Met Office investigators concluded that “…the storm was circular in shape; …it advanced at thirty-six miles an hour; …the width in South Wales was three hundred yards; ….the maximum duration of the storm at any one place must have been about seventeen seconds.”
It is inconceivable that so much destruction could be caused in just seventeen seconds. Four people were killed in the tornado – the worst confirmed death-toll for a UK tornado, scores injured and damage to property was estimated at £40,000 in terms of repairs required – a considerable sum equivalent to around £2.5 million today.
If you would like to read more, a fuller account of the tornado has been published in the Merthyr Historian – Volume 25. Please contact me at the e-mail address shown if you would like to purchase a copy, and I will forward your request.
