DELUGE OF RAIN

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 50, 22 November 1932, Page 9

DELUGE OF RAIN

Sydney’s Thunderstorm LIGHTNING & FIREBALLS Sydney, Nov. 21. The State Meteorologist, Mr. Mares, said to-day that at times during yesterday’s thunderstorm rain fell at an approximate rate of six inches an hour. In half an hour, from 7.20 to 7.50, 210 points were registered. “Nothing in therecords,” he said, “can equal this.” The stormwater channels were insufficient to cope with the deluge in sections of the suburbs of Balmain, Camperdown, and Redfern, where shops and houses were flooded to a depth of two feet, while in the city a wall of water burst through the windows of eight shops in George Street. A tram was strusk by lightning at Mosman. No passengers were aboard, and the crew escaped. Fireballs are also reported from widely separated points. In one ease a little girl had just left a bedroom when a fireball crashed through the roof above the bed with a shattering explosion. Low-lying areas in every suburb suffered, hundreds of backyards and homes being flooded. RAINFALL IN QUEENSLAND Wheat Crop Damaged Brisbane, Nov. 21. Wheat crops on the Darling Downs were extensively damaged by torrential rain. Three inches fell at Rockhampton in half an hour, flooding parts of the town. A dust storm and gale unroofed buildings at Charters Towers and damaged fruit crops.