HOUSES STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 72, 17 December 1938, Page 12

HOUSES STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

Fierce Thunderstorm Over Wellington

TORRENTIAL RAIN

Ordeal For Residents Of Karori <

Of briefer duration and more localized, but matching in intensity that of a week ago, a thunderstorm broke over Wellington yesterday morning, reaching its height about 6.30 o’clock. The storm broke chiefly over the Karori and Brooklyn areas, where there was torrential rain, accompanied by lightning flashes and thunderclaps. Two houses were severely struck by lightning ,and two horses were killed. Damage to telephone was extensive, but no interference with the electric, power supply was reported. Lightning struck the residence of Mr. and Mrs. M. S. G. Monk in South Karori Road. Mr. Monk, who is a dairyman, had left on his round but returned for a raincoat. , As he stopped his car he saw the lightning flash and strike a window of the house, leaving three gaping holes where the glass was hurled inward. The charge could be seen runing up the radio aerial, which fell to the ground in small burnt-out sections.

Mrs. Monk was standing alongside the radio set when the house was struck. She received a slight burn on the neck, but apart from shock was otherwise unhurt. The broken glass fell at her feet. The radio set was shattered, the blind was \ ripped to shreds and the curtains were blackened and started smouldering. The wallpaper was also blacßened, but there was no actual fire. The telephone and all the electrical equipment in the house suffered. Au electric clock which, had stopped at 6,40 a.m. told the time of the occurrence. Room Filled With Smoke. Another residence struck was that of Mr. J. V. Fahey, next to the Roman Catholic Church in the Main Road, Karori. Dlr. and Mrs. Fahey and family were iu bed when they heard what they described as a terrific noise from the breakfast room. When they went to the room they found that a wall plug had been shattered and the parts shot over the room, which was filled with smoke from a burnt wire. The wallpaper was scorched. In their house,too, all the electrical equipment was blown out. Horses Killed. Two horses, jumpers from the riding school of Mr. C. 11. Glover, were struck by lightning and killed. They were in a back paddock of Mr. Glover’s property overnight, but one, a mare, was something out of the ordinary run of junipers, and a fence sft. 6iu high was insufficient to keep her in the paddock. The other horse would go through the fence to follow her, and the two were sheltering under some macrocarpa trees in a paddock behind the Karori Roman Catholic Church when they were struck. The lightning marked four of the trees and tore up the ground about their roots. The horses were not marked. Their value, Mr. Glover said, was about £2O each.

Surface drains were soon filled by the downpour of rain, which proved too much for the roof spouting on most houses. There wag some flooding in the streets, and before the rain ceased the stormwater drains had emptied considerable quantities of water into the harbour.

A number of branches were torn off a pine tree in the Botanical Gardens. Hutt Valley residents, who experienced the full force of last week’s storm, saw this one pass over toward the city. A ■main burst on the Hutt Road near Kaiwarra, but repairs were quickly effected.

The 'storm was soon spent and most city.workers suffered no inconvenience. The remainder of the day was fine and mild, though a north-easterly wind was fairly strong throughout the day.

SUDDEN DOWNPOUR IN AUCKLAND

By Telegraph—Press Assoeiatiou

AUCKLAND, December 16.

A sudden downpour of tropical intensity took shoppers in the city by surprise tonight. There was severe thunder and lightning, which caused some alarm. Pavements under shop verandas weer closely packed with people during the height of the storm.