THE WEATHER.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17414, 27 March 1922, Page 10

THE WEATHER.

GALE AND HEAVY RAIN. Heavy rain, accompanied at times by ], tltniif aeuth-westerly wind, set in on jj tfridny evening, and fell fairly steadily <; during the greater part of the night. & Some extremely heavy showers were * experienced on Saturday morning, a though, the rain ceased about 9 o'clock, * but set in again in the evening as f , heavily as beiore. In the early floors j d the morning it cleared off again, and t yesterday, though dull, was fine and J warm. About 0 p.m., .however, steady j and heavy rain again set in, and con- , tinned till the early hours of this \ morning. ■ The morning. at Lyttelton on Saturday broke with a strong northerly gaJo blowing, and thick rain falling. ■ At 8 ' o'clock the rain increased and m a few minutes became a torrential downpour. Side channels quickly overflowed and 'great rivers of water rushed downhill, ' scouring out the streets in several place*. The storm water sewers were , • la, some cases quite unable to cope with j the water and the sewer in Norwich , Ifaioty, under the enormous pressure of , wntet from the upper levels, sent up miniature geysers from the sewer grat- , ings along the street. The downpour * slackened within half an hour, for- , ' ttmately indeed, as a further fifteen f 1 ' minutes would have placed some of the : ■ t cellars in the business portion of the j '{ Wwn in jeopardy. Heavy showers con- '■ *», tinned all day, and the wind and sea ■ i Increased.' vessels arriving in the • ', afternoon all reported having received , *' a buffeting. The Rama, which bad the j v- tea oo the beam, was severely tossed i ftbotit. The. small, ketch Bira, which < .' arrived off the Peninsula during the « ' night was unable to pick up either of ] , the lights at the Heads, and was hove i ta all night. The Harbour Board's ; tug Ijytteltoß' which went out on Sat- ; uraay afternoon to bring in the Raupo ; , > had a particularly rough trip. A lively J vessel at any time, the big seas com- ! - ing up the harbour tossed her about , like a cork. Making fast to the barque a" «was ticklish work, the ropes, of which " 'there were about six forward, and the • same number aft, threatening to part ' with the force'of the wind and sea. everything , held, and the ' sailing vewel was safety berthed. It waa about 9.40-p.m. when the first ' trouble *with the electric power occurred. The current was suddenly cut off, \ plunging the port in darkness, and t-■" after a tew minutes the power came on ' again It was off and on five times - within half an hour. Then ono of the power lines near the Bridle Path short- , circuited owing to the wet pole and ' "Jrobftbly a faulty insulator. There ' w%a a spluttering crack and a blinding flash of Vivid blue light which lit up «|[ the port, and darkness once againdescended. Again the power was put \ *<wv and again a Winding flash which ' " terrified residents in the vicinity of the v -nowOT line. After several attempts the /■ power was again put on and no further ''. trouble was experienced during the '" ''night. Yesterday »• repair gang from . the Public Works Department fixed : the line The pole where the shorting occurred was bsdly;burnt. Broken, .unsettled weather has.pre- \ \ Tailed during the past * fortnight '* ' ..(writes our Afcarqa correspondent). To-1, s"'*-iwaxds the week-end it' Decame quite . "■i wStry. Heay rain fell at intervals on : '■ . heavier still through the latter j , •*" part of the night, while Saturday con- : X<" turned depressinglv wet. There,was a ?' decided drop in the temperature. I'j ,' Heavy ram fell at Ashburton during ' KViday. night, and by 9 a.m. on Satur- '- ,i &aiy I.Bom. was registered.