ELECTRICAL STORM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 194, 17 August 1932, Page 5

ELECTRICAL STORM.

ALARMING EXPERIENCES. NARROW ESCAPES AT BUCKLAND. TOWER SYSTEM AFFECTED. Yesterday morning an electrical storm passed over Pukekohe and district. At the time there was really nothing untoward to excite the curiosity of residents, but later in the clay ' it was learned that the storm was particularly violent at Onewhero and Buckland. One of the Franklin Electric Power Board's main transformers at Onewhero was struck and damaged; with the result that the power system was disorganised. A gang of electrical wiremen soon had the system functioning. On Jericho Road, Buckland, an 11,000volt transmission line evidently received a direct strike, for it was broken. Jn this circuit the e'.oetrie light bulbs in the houses and fuses in cowsheds were blown, and generally the whole circuit was made dead. .Several residents had alarming experiences. One, Mr. W. D. Smith, a farmer at Buckland, was in the act of switching 07) the current to operate the machinery in his milking shed when he was blinded by a detonating flame. He was hurled to the ground, and it was fully live minutes before lie recovered. Mr. Smith's little daughter, who was near the telephone at the time, was knocked down. Mr. .Smith remarked that it was a terrible experience, one which he would not care to go through again. While other settlers in the vicinity were alarmed, fortunately no one was injured. The Franklin Power Board's wiremen were engaged most of the day effecting repairs and restoring the system.