STORM AT WAIROA

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 October 1939, Page 5

STORM AT WAIROA

DAMAGE BY LIGHTNING. [per press association.] WAIROA, October 13. The woman occupant of one house had a rather terrifying experience, and electrical equipment in this house, and also in two other houses, was considerably damaged, as the result of lightning during the worst thunderstorm the district has experienced for many years. Mrs B. A. Yelverton was alone in her house at North Clyde, when a clap of thunder, following vjvid lightning, appeared to shake the house on its foundations. The telephone was immediately put out of action, and the wireless set became ablaze. Mrs Yelverton, although shaken by the violent shock, quickly obtained a basin of water and threw it over the set, but, to quench the fire, she had finally to put the set in the sink. The electrical fittings in the house were also put out of action, as were those in two other houses in the same s treet. In one case, fire also broke out in the dining room, in the home of Mr and Mrs E. A. Kelly, but the brigade, although hampered by the fact that the sirens used for summoning the firemen had also been rendered useless, was able to get a crew by telephone, and made a good save.