HEAVY RAIN AND HAIL

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24743, 7 December 1945, Page 4

HEAVY RAIN AND HAIL

Electrical Storm In Canterbury LOBURN ORCHARDS SUFFER An electrical storm, which brought heavy rain and hail, broke over a wide area of Canterbury yesterday afternoon. In most districts the rain was welcomed by farmers, although it interrupted shearing and haymaking: but me hail left a trail of damage in Worth Canterbury, Apple orchards at Loburn suffered severely, and crops were flattened over a wide area.

In Christchurch the storm broke shortly before 3 p.m. Dark clouds banked up threateningly, and then the thunder and lightning began Heavy rain soon followed, and" there were more vivid flashes of lightning during the afternoon. The rain continued steadily until early in the evening, when it began to slacken off. Approximately .60in of rain bad fallen when the weather cleared at 9 p.m. Rain fell again later in the night, and at 2.30 a.m. to-day there was a steady downpour.

Effect on Crops Farmers in Canterbury welcomed the ram, and said last evening that it would do a tremendous amount of good to all kinds of cereal crops, and also to lucerne crops, which had been very backward because of J dry weather. Sixty to 80 points of rain fell over most of the province at the week-end, but its effects were offset by northwest winds. The rain yesterday interrupted haymaking, and is likely to be a set-back to lamb fattening, but farmers expect it to bring on more feed for later fattening. Orchardists ana farmers in North Canterbury suffered most from the storm. it broke about 4 p.m. and swept round Carleton, Cust, Summerhnl and Loburn, flattening wheat, clover, and grass seed crops over a wide area. Wheat particularly- was left in a bad condition. At Loburn some of the hail was as bis as marbles, and it covered the orchards to a depth of two inches. In the northern part of the fruit-growing area the hailstorm lasted nearly an hour. Apples suffered' severely, and a hasty inspection made by orchardists indicated that very little fruit would be left in its normal grade when if matured. The hail was not as heavy as that in the storm which destroyed about SO per cent, of the crop at Lo-j burn in December, 1944, and a proportion of this season's crop is likely to recover to some extent. An orchardist at the southern end of the area said last evening that the damage hao not been so severe there, and the trees had hot been as badly knocked about as in 1944. The hail had lasted about half an hour. In the northern part of Loburn, however, the storm had been very bad. Towards Rangiora the hail had tapered off from Saunders' Corner, Gardens Damaged

Four inches of hail fell in one part of the Oxford district, and severe damage to gardens was reported. The storm passed over the district shortly after 2 p.m., coming from the southwest over the View Hill district, and then passing eastward. There were two mches of hail at View Hill and four inches at Bennett's. Newlyshorn sheep had to be rushed into shelter, and great damage, was done to small fruits like gooseberries and currants. In one garden cabbages we.re stripped of their leaves, only the stalks remaining. The hail missed the Oxford township, but rain fell until 5 p.m., and the evening was cold. The storm struck the outskirts of Rangiora soon after 4 p.m.. and the heavy rain was accompanied by thunder and lightning. At Fernside a thunderstorm started just after midday, and there was heavy rain during the afternoon, and a little hsil. Lightning damaged the telephone at the home of Mr A. M. Carpenter, and pieces of two fuses were- blown out a distance of 20 feet. The damage was repaired later. In the "VVaikari district the hail lasted for half an hour, and at 3 p.m. there was heavy rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning. The rainfall was lighter after 4 p.m. and slackened off at 6 p.m. Culverden escaped the storm, and after a strong easterly wind in the morning, there were only a few spots of rain. Telephone Wires Broken

Rain began to fall fairly heavily in the Little River district about 11 a.m., and there was thunder and lightning. The rain continued steadily during the afternoon, but late last evening the sky had almost cleared*.

There was a severe hailstorm lasting 20 minutes at Hororata about mid-day, and then the sky cleared and the sun came out. A light drizzle set in about 4 p.m. There was slight thunder during the storm. At Darfleld there were thunder and lightning all afternoon, and rain fell 'for nearly four hours. There was a hailstorm about 1 p.m. Some damage was done to telephone lines in the district by the storm, but the broken wires were repaired later in the afternoon.

At Methven the hail, which was accompanied by thunder, only whitened the ground at midday. There were showers of rain most of the day, and 75 points of rain were recorded. The total rainfall for the year .so far is 65.75 inches, which is the heaviest fall for any year since records have been kept in the district. Sleet, rain, and hail fell in the Geraldine and Temuka districts early yesterday afternoon. The Waitohi peak was covered with a light coating of snow, and the temperature dropped considerably.