Magistrate remains following road disaster (5)

I believe the answer is:

smash

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'disaster' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'magistrate remains following road' is the wordplay.
'magistrate' becomes 's' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'remains' becomes 'ash' (remains of a fire).
'following' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'road' becomes 'M'.
'ash' after 'm' is 'mash'.
's'+'mash'='SMASH'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for smash that I've seen before include "tremendous success!" , "Completely destroy" , "defeat" , "Break noisely into pieces" , "Shatter violently" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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