HEAVIEST HAIL IN 50 YEARS

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28159, 24 December 1956, Page 10

HEAVIEST HAIL IN 50 YEARS

Storm Sweeps Foothills HOMES, GARDENS DAMAGED A thunderstorm—the worst for 50 vears—struck the Malvern Hilts and Oxford-Mount Grey areas shortly after 1 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Heavy hail accompanied the thunder and hailstones, some almost two inches across, smashed windows, stripned fruit trees and shattered gardens. The storm was accompanied by extremely heavy thunder, which shook houses, and brilliant forked and sheet lightning. The storm covered a belt along the face of the Malvern Hills from Whitecliffs and Glentunnel through Coalgate, Darfield. Waddington, Sheffield, to Oxford and Whiterock and its outskirts reached Amberley and Cheviot. The fringe of the storm reached Christchurch. During the early afternoon in the city the sky darkened and there was some thunder and lightning. Light rain fell, but about 3 o’clock there was a short but heavy downpour. After a clear period, heavy rain set in shortly after 7 p.m. and lasted about two hours. However, this was a mere nothing to the thunder and lightning and hail experienced close to the foothills. One man at Loburn. seven miles from the foothills, said he had never heard such heavy and continuous thunder, nor seen such vivid lightning. The hail which fell along the belt of the storm had to be experienced to be believed, said another man. At “Homebush” station, near Coalgate, hail stones measuring two and a quarter inches by one and a quarter inches were placed in a refrigerator for all to see as confirmation. The homestead shook with the thunder, and windows in several cottages on the station were broken. The hailstones fell with such force they dented the corrugations on old iron roofs. The station garden was ruined. Raspberries and currants were cut to nieces, and apples on the trees were SP A* few miles further into the foothills, between “Homebush” station and Waddington, hailstones two inches across were measured and they made holes an inch deep in lawns, soft from recent rains. Damage to Woolshed On one property, 15 windows were broken, and a woolshed on a farm near Racecourse Hill had its skylights and windows smashed. Cloches were broken in gardens, crops such as peas were smashed, and branches and leaves stripped from trees. The storm in this southern part of its belt seemed particularly severe, and Mr James Deans, of “Homebush” station, said that it was the. worst in his 50 years’ experience there. In the Kimberley district, hailstones weighing up to two ounces stripped and flattened crops, barked trees, and even took the paint off gates, according to one observer. A turkey roosting on the ground suffered a broken wing on one farm property. Window breakage was also severe in the Kimberley district. At Darfield, crops were badly damaged and windows broken. North at Whiterock and Oxford, the hail was also severe and one man described the fallen hail lying on the ground as being like a “light fall of snow.” Hailstones of an inch across stripped gardens and orchards. In most cases, the hail was accompanied by light showers of rain, which set in heavily after the hailstorms ended. Further north at Amberley, Cheviot, and as far up as Kaikoura, thunderstorms occurred in the late afternoon. There was some thunder and lightning, but little or no hail. Some rain fell. There was a particularly heavy downpour at Cheviot shortly after 4.3 G p.m., when half an inch fell in 30 minutes. South of Christchurch, at Leeston. there were showers in the afternoon and heavy rain set in at 7 p.m. Heavy rain was fairly general throughout North Canterbury last evening. Storm in Md-Canterbury In the Mid-Canterbury foothills a sudden hailstorm, which lasted about 20 minutes at midday yesterday, flattened crops, damaged fruit and caused power failures. Hail lay to a depth of six inches in the back country, and along buildings the depth ranged from a few inches to a foot. Crops of hay in the Alford Forest area, the most affected by the storm, were damaged, gardens were ruined, and some fruit trees were stripped. Gorse fences were broken by the weight of hail and young pine trees recently planted had their tops and smaller branches torn off. In one house three rows of windows on one side of the house were smashed and the road from this house to the Alford Forest store, a distance of half a mile, was covered in places with hail up to depths of six inches. At 8 p.m., the hail was still lying on the road. No hail fell in the Mayfield and Methven townships, but heavy falls were recorded in Staveley and Springburn.

Power supplies to the Methven. Mayfield, and Mount Somers areas were interrupted and telephone services in all foothill exchange centres were affected. The line from Christchurch to Springburn was still out of order late last evening. Heavy rain fell in the foothills, up to 71 points being recorded in places.