A WILD NIGHT

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 April 1924, Page 5

A WILD NIGHT

GREAT THUNDERSTORM RAGES TELEPHONE LINES DESTROYED After an exceptionally vivid flash of lightning a terrific clash of thunder resounded shortly before three o’clock this morning, the peals lasting a number of seconds reverberating with rumbling cracks that shook buildings and terrified nervous people whom the first, rumble awakened. Torrential rain then fell steadily and continued through the morning with intermittent flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder. The storm began early last evening and increased in force as the night progressed until the climax was reached in the early hours. As a result much damage has been caused to telephone lines, and telephonic communication with Christchurch has been cut off. The effects of the storm were felt generally throughout the West Coast but in the .Grey Valley particularly. Lines are down in Kamaka and telephonic communication with Westport cannot be effected. A bad mishap occurred at Camerons where the force of the storm uprooted a number of trees and propelled them across the telegraph line, destroying two spans. A gang of linesmen, under the foreman Mr. L. Hamblin, set out early to repair the damage and are now working at it. About 11 o’clock telegraphic communication with Hokitika was established.

Beyond Kumara the lines have also been damaged. Tests of the Otira line proved very unsatisfactory and it is expected that the lines are down at Jackson’s. The work of repairing this will be commenced as soon as pos-« sible. Christchurch could not be communicated with this morning owing to the lines being down, but at nine o’clock the Morse line was restored to activity, and the quadruplex machine has been working. It is believed that it will be some time before the telephone line is in order. The lines north of Otira and north of Reefton, are reported to be intact. The damage caused by the storm seems to have been confined, to the district surrounded by Otira, Kumara, Ahaura and Reefton. Greymouth was hit hard. Several telephones have been put out of action and a whole pile of complaint notices await the attention of the faultmen, who will be busy in the next few days. Switchboard attachments in the telegraph operating room at the Greymouth Post Office were damaged and had to be repaired this morning. Among other defects a peculiar mishap to the'dialectics was noticed. These are small perforated filaments attached to the carbons of the lightning-ar-

resting apparatus, and were found to have burst under the strain placed on them. The Superintendent of the Telegraph Department (Mr. G. S. Pratt) together with other officials had a trying time detecting these and other defects. Mr. Pratt has been on duty continuously since 4 o’clock this morning. The storm caused considerable damage to the residence occupied by Mr. Weenink, caretaker of the Greymouth Main School. During the night the roof of the washhouse was blown off, and sailed through the air, landing in the school grounds. A brick chimney was also demolished, and during the night a bedroom window was blown in, the flying glass fortunately missing the occupants of the room. , A number of slates were blown off the roof of the school, and arrangements were made by the Chairman of the School Committee (Mr. J. Tennent) to have repairs carried out this' morning. Fallen trees and damaged fences are reported elsewhere in the town. Lightning struck the railway line at Stillwater and made a hole in the ground, but apart from this no dam-

age is reported on the railway lines. The authorities state that trains can be started on a journey to any part of the section within an hour. Advice from Arthurs Pass receiced this morning stated that the Bealey River was still rising and rain continued to fall. There was not a chance of cars or vehicles getting through while the rain lasted. Some cars left for Christchurch this morning with a fair number of passengers, but they will be upable to get further than Otira. The passengers will probably await the arrival of the express to-morrow. Between 12 and 1 o’clock the line to Hokitika resumed work. The other damaged lines have not been repaired yet, but no time is being lost. The weather shows signs of clearing. The barometer rose at noon, but the atmosphere remained somewhat bleak. IN SOUTH WESTLAND. Heavy rains in the South have done considerable damage to the road surface in many places, where the highway is badly scoured (says the “Guardian”); This is particularly so on the hilly parts. Round Lake lanthe all the hills' are scoured more or less. Watertables were filled with slips and debris, and the water had , . . « m - D/GU

to find its way along the road. Both Duffer’s Creek and Evan’s Creek were exceptionally high during the weekend flood. Slips up-stream were the cause. The streams were running bank high, and the flood waters overflowed the decking. This is- a most unusual circumstance. Each bridge was damaged slightly by the weight of water, and some of the piers are out of plumb. Approaches of some of the large bridges were scoured badly also, and generally the amount of damage spread over a long length of road is very considerable.