UNUSUALLY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 65, 9 December 1938, Page 12

UNUSUALLY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM

Duration Of 51 Hours

VIVID LIGHTNING AND HEAVY RAIN

For 51 hours on Wednesday uigl.it many residents of Welliiiglou and surrounding districts were kept awake by an unusually long ami severe thunderstorm. Lightning Hashes oi tour ami live seconds duration illuminated interiors clearly and the loud rumblings of thunder woke all but the licit' test sleepers.

No damage in or round the city has been reported, but the electrical stoim caused telephone bells to I inkle once or twice when tilery were particularly close lightning Hashes.

Rain began to fall soon after 1 a.m., but it. was not until about 2.30 a.m. that the thunderstorm started, with lorriential rain, loud growlings of thunder and vivid flashes of lightning. The lightning made a spectacular Sight for those who sat up and watched tlie storm. Bel ween some of the claps of thunder there were fairly long intervals, but. just when one began to think that tlie storm was over, there would be a recurrence. 'I be last roll of thunder occurred about 8 a.m.. ami soon after the rain ceased and the weather begau lo clear. I be wind, however, did not lose any of its force, but instead increased, till at times it reached gale force. At daybreak there was an eerie electric-blue coloured sky.

VIOLENT STORM IN WAIRARAPA

Telephone And Power Services Affected Dominion Special Service. MASTERTON, .December 8. Probably the most violent thunderstorm ever experienced in the district broke over the Wairarapa between 6 a.m. and' 9 a.m. today. Roaring claps of thunder and vivid lightning came with monotonous regularity, tint the rain showers were comparatively light and brief. At lhe height of the storm lhe sky became so dark that many householders, with no thought of the possible consequences, resorted to electric light. Window panes and doors vibrated and drummed, and the lightning was visible in broad daylight. A life-time resident, of Masterton said lie mu' never known such prolonged claps 01. thunder. Some bad lasted almost a minute.

Mr. E. C. Coddinglon, headmaster of the Masterton Central School, said that attendance had been fairly seriously affected, but not to such an extent as he had expected.

Housewives, whoso mornings are normally fully occupied, had the additional task or allaying fear in their children. In one instance a woman so convinced her child that the thunder was “good fun” that tlie child became wildly enthusiastic and enjoyed every moment of it. The mother, on tlie other hand, was reduced to a nervous state.

A Chinese fruiterer’s aged and docile horse was greatly alarmed at the storm, and bolted a mile or more up a Alasterton street.

Automatic telephone .services were affected, and in Masterton about a dozen fuses were blown out, and a number of lightning guards damaged.

At Carterton tlie Wairarapa Electric Power Board service was temporarily out of commission. Almost all over the Wairarapa water tables could not cope with the rain, which surged ou to the footpaths. In contrast to the storm, Masterton and other parts of the Mairarapa enjoyed a sunny afternoou, though there were strong- gusts of wind from the west.

PROLONGED STORM IN MARLBOROUGH Lightning Does Slight Damage By Telegraph—Press Association. BLENHEIM, December 8. The most prolonged electrical storm experienced in Marlborough for many years occurred between 2 a.m. and <> a.m., tin almost, incessant rumble of thunder being punctuated by several particularly heavy detonations following blinding flashes of lightning. Only minor damage appears to have resulted, practically all of it due to an electrical discharge about 6 o-clock. it caused the power to shut down through the shattering of an insulator on a high tension line. In one house in the vicinity a radio set. was ignited and in another the switchhoard was set alight. The dwellings were unharmed. A gatepost, was shattered and the ground surrounding it denuded of turf. Luckily the lightning struck where a minimum of damage was liable to occur, for in the same locality two willow trees were split and set on fire and not far away an oat stook was

seen to Ire ablaze in the midst of a downpour of rain. Numerous telephones were put out of action in Springlands. Tlie storm was accompanied by one of the heaviest rains for months, approximately an inch and a half being recorded in tlie four hours. LIGHTNING DAMAGE Fault In South Taranaki Power Board Plant By Telegraph—Press Association. lIAWERA, December 8. Lightning I his morning caused one of the biggest faults that has developed in the South Taranaki Bower Board's plant fin’ many years, as a result of which all industrial activity in Hawora and the greater portion of South Taranaki dependent upon electric power was rendered inoixtralive for nearly two hours from 8.35 o'clock. Dairy factories throughout Ihe southern portion of the province were most’seriously inconvenienced in the handling of incoming milk supplies, and the processes of butler-making and cheese-making had to be delayed till power was restored at 11.8 o’clock.