STORM AT WELLINGTON

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 August 1935, Page 2

STORM AT WELLINGTON

HAIL, LIGHTNING AND RAIN. [FEB PBESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, August 17. An electric storm of unusual severity visited Wallington yesterday. Heavy rain, accompanied by a strong north-west wind, set in early in the, afternoon, and at about 5.30 p.m., vivid lightning appeared in the soutn and west, and continued at intervals for several hours, though thunder at that stage could not bo heard. Tha rain, however, was particularly heavy on occasions. At 5.30, a hailstorm, commenced with remarkable suddenness, and during the few minutes it lasted, drifts piled up in corners, and in at least one case, blocked a storm water drain. Some of the stones were very large, and at Karori and Northland and nearby, where the storm was particularly severe, jagged lumps of ice, many three-quarters of an inch square, fellSome of the hailstones themselves were as big as marbles, and fell with such force that many people feared windows would be broken. Many motorcars had to remain pulled up, and Friday night shoppers were terrified. Vivid lightning and rolling thunder continued the storm apeparing to be circling Wellington and Hutt Valley. It eased after ten o’clock, but at 1.15 a.m., a vivid flash and an unusually heavy clap of thunder shook houses, and awakened most people in the Wellington area, and heavy rain, again fell. The north-west gale persisted, but gradually changed to the south. Gusts up to 50 miles an hour were registered. A wash-out took place in Kelburn, off Upland Road, and a number of minor slips are reported from various places.