Thunderstorms, Heavy Rain Over Canterbury

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30064, 23 February 1963, Page 10

Thunderstorms, Heavy Rain Over Canterbury

Two thunderstorms, accompanied by torrential rain, lashed Christchurch arid surrounding areas yesterday afternoon. In the city some businesses and householders experienced minor flooding and power was cut off briefly in some areas. Telephones in the city were not affected and flights in and out of Christchurch airport were not interrupted.

Of the two major outdoor functions in the city, the elephant race in city streets and the Canterbury Horticultural Society’s summer show, only the latter was affected. Patrons in the afternoon had to run for shelter and in the evening —the last of the showattendances fell. The elephant race was . held as scheduled at 4 p.m., when there was a break in the weather.

The Municipal Electricity Department reported four interruptions in supply and damage to a pole transformer. At 3.20 p.m. the 11,000-volt lines supplying .South Brighton tripped out because of lightning strike, but no damage was found and supply was restored at 3.48 p.m. At 3.50 p.m. the supply to the Prestons road area tripped out. There was some damage on the line but it was repaired and power was restored at 5.27 p.m. About this time it was discovered a pole transformer in Marshland road had been damaged, but supply was restored through other stations at 5.40 p.m. The damaged transformer had to be replaced. At 6 p.m. a circuit supplying the Dee street area tripped because of lightning strike, but no damage was found. Supply was restored at 6.37 p.m.

The weather office at Christchurch airport reported the first storm started at Harewood about 2.45 p.m., and struck Christchurch city about quarter of an hour later. It lasted a little more than half an hour. During this time .4 inches of rain was recorded at Harewood and .2 inches at the Botanic Gardens. The storm came in from the -vest-south-west and the second one at 5.50'p.m. was much the same. This second storm lasted until about 6.30 p.m. and .2 inches of rain was recorded.

The weather office said last evening a cold front was moving north-east over Otago, and would pass over Canterbury during the night or early morning. This would bring some rain but was not expected to bring further thunderstorms. Garage Flooded

J. Newton and Son’s garage in Armagh street, near the Centennial pool, was flooded to a depth of considerably more than a foot by the first storm. Mr Newton

said inspection pits, four feet deep, were filled, and his staff of nine spent most of the afternoon bailing out the premises.

The work was nearly finished when the second storm broke shortly before 6 p.m. and the premises were flooded once more. Mr Newton said the trouble was a poorlydrained right-of-way which ran beside his premises. "I have been around nearly every department in the City Council, but nobody will help,” he said. At Rangiora, heavy rain ruined some gardens in Loburn avenue during the 20minute thunderstorm. Most of the orchards in the area escaped, and there was not expected to be any serious damage to fruit About three-quarters of an inch of rain fell during the period, and in the Stony Flat road area up to three inches of hail-stones were lying in places, with, stones up to half an inch in diameter. Whiterock, only two miles away, escaped without a drop of rain.

Lightning caused a shortcircuit and set off the fire alarm at Rangiora, where heavy rain fell during both storms. Side-channels were filled almost to capacity. Heavy rain also fell at Oxford.

At Darfield, 16 points of rain was recorded in the first fall (by 3.45 p.m.). The second fall was not recorded. At Mr R. Reid’s property. Riversleigh, three miles from Darfield, there were 62 points in the first fall, and 24 points in the second fall. At Mr D. Deans’s property, Rowallan, 40 points was recorded in the first fall, and 23 in the second. The thunder started about 2.30 p.m. The Motunau area escaped the worst of the storm, which passed further inland. About .2in of rain was recorded after the storm started at 4 p.m. At Timaru there were brief periods of near torrential rain, the total being about 2in. The first downpour lasted for 20 minutes. It was accompanied by thunder and followed by more showers.

Another storm followed at 7 p.m. At 9 p.m. there was a cloudburst, and heavy rain fell for a quarter of an hour. It was still raining heavily late in the evening. Cellars were flooded and surface water lay on rriany roads. Severe flooding in many

Ashburton shops and offices and in the streets in the borough occurred during a sudden heavy thunder storm shortly before 4 p.m. Only one storm was experienced.

Hail and rain lashed the town, coating the streets with hailstones for some minutes. Visibility, deteriorated badly and most motorists were using their lights. The thunder was continuous for almost 20 minutes. Within seven minutes from the time the storm started the streets were flooded, with waiter running across the footpaths in many cases. Water streamed into many shops, damaging stock, but there were no reports of any serious damage. Affected window and counter displays were quickly removed. At Lane, Walker Rudkin’s factory, there was severe flooding, with the water reaching several of the machines. However, it was not thought any serious damage had been caused. The flood waters cleared swiftly in the middle of the town, but on some streets, ineluding West street and Walnut avenue, the water lay in pools. Waiter up to one foot deep was reported in some streets.

In the Allenton shopping centre, one woman took off her shoes and waded through the water to get a parcel from a shop. By 4.30 p.m. the weather had cleared and the sun was shining again. It was the second time in two days that Ashburton's streets had been flooded.

Apart from isolated fused transformers, the only ■ damage to power lines in the county was a fault in the main line between Tinwald and Ealing which put the power out for about an hour in the area. By nightfall most repairs had been carried out. The Mayfield toll circuit was the only one affected by lightning. There were other instances of minor trouble to isolated subscribers.

No reports of serious flooding in other parts of the county had been received late last night by the county engineer (Mr R. L. Lindsay).