At Bideford, and in the surrounding country, the weather was more severe than any experienced since the winter of 1881. The barometer had been steadily going back all day on Sunday, and on Monday a cutting east wind blew with considerable force. Snow commenced falling at noon, and continued until the evening, when the streets and roads were covered to some depth. Then the wind rose to half a gale, whirling the snow into little clouds, which filled both doors and windows. All through the night the wind increased in force, until it blew a perfect hurricane. Icicles hung inches long from windowsills and launders of the houses. In the country, traffic was completely suspended, the snowdrifts being as high as the hedges. Farmers were consequently unable to get into market, and provisions went up considerably in price. The mail coach started for Clovelly and Hartland as usual on Tuesday morning, and managed to reach Clovelly. There, however, the horses had to be taken out, and the driver rode through the deep drifts to Hartland on horseback. The return journey was performed by another man in a similar way. All the mails were delayed, and rural postmen's districts were mostly impassable.
At Teignmouth, Exmouth, Dawlish, and most other seaside places from the estuary of the Exe to the Start, the effects of the gale were severely felt on Monday night. At the former place the sea ran high, and the breakers fell with great force close to the landwash and over the promenade. Opposite Den House the roadway was undermined and washed away, and had it not been for the fact that an hitherto existing stone wall lay buried beneath the surface, which acted as a breakwater against the heavy sea, it is almost certain that Den House and Bella Vista would have been washed away. As soon as the tide ebbed, the wind veered towards the northward, and the sea went down. A gang of men were at once set to work to shore up the embankment, and fill in the cavity made by the sea. The Promenade towards the East Cliff was also washed up in several places. In the Exeter Road and at Brimley a large number of trees were blown down, and traffic was generally suspended.
An illustration from a photograph by Messrs. G. Denney & Co., photographers, of Exeter and Teignmouth, portrays one of the scenes in Exeter Road, which was impassable for a day or two.
At Totnes, Brent, and in fact every town in Devonshire, damage of a more or less severe character was sustained. Space will not allow of a separate reference to each locality in the present chapter, but in dealing with occurrences that took place after the early force of the blizzard had been exhausted on that memorable Monday night and Tuesday morning, there will be found few districts that necessity will not compel us to bring under notice.
EXETER ROAD, TEIGNMOUTH.
Reference has already been made to some towns in the North of Devon. Throughout the whole of this district the storm raged furiously, rendering communication with many parts impossible. Although snow did not commence to fall until Monday afternoon, by the evening of that day the drifts had reached a depth of several feet. The train which left Barnstaple for Ilfracombe at about half-past eight on Monday evening became embedded just below Morthoe station. At Ilfracombe a strong gale raged throughout Monday night, and the brigantine Ethel, of Salcombe, 180 tons went ashore at Combemartin, but in this instance no lives were lost, the crew having taken to their boats. In North Cornwall, a terrible snowstorm raged for twenty-four hours, resembling in many respects the great storm of the 18th and 19th January, 1881. The atmospheric pressure was about the same as then, and the storm burst from the same point. On the first day of the great storm in 1881, the temperature varied from 26 to 30 and on the second from 25 to 30. On the 9th of March in the present year it varied from 29 to 31½. The roads were soon blocked in all directions, trains on the lines ceased running, and no mails could be sent or received. Bude was cut off from the outside world, except by telegraphic communication. In the roads around Bude the snow was quickly as high as the hedges, so that traffic, even on foot, was rendered impracticable. Falmouth, Liskeard, Camborne, and indeed all other Cornish towns, had a rough night, and before our story is finished, like many towns in Devonshire, they will be found to have suffered severely. To approach them with any hope of successfully relating how they all fared on the night of Monday and on the Tuesday following, we must deal with the railways, for from railway travellers who were detained in certain places on the course of their journeys, and from the energetic officials who after heavy and anxious toil succeeded in releasing them, many of the most thrilling narratives have been obtained.