FIERCE ELECTRICAL STORMS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 28 February 1935, Page 6

FIERCE ELECTRICAL STORMS

Y 1A 7 ID LIGHTNING FLASHES. MAN KILLED BY STROKE. In the course of a fierce eleetrical storm which raged over the North Coast districts of New South AVales, last week, a man was struck by lightning near Ivempsey and killed. At ■Maclean, several people were thrown t.Q the ground unconscious, a man had has shirt ripped from his back by a lightning flash, and two horses were injured. Fuses were blown, and the switchboard at. the Lismore telephone exchange was set on fire. The lightning was remarkably violent, and was accompanied by awe-inspiring thunderclaps. Alarm was caused among residents by' the terrific nature of the storm, and stock galloped about in terror. The man killed by lightning was Thomas Gunn, 53, who was struck at Sherwood. He went to remove a.cick horse to shelter during the height of Ihe storm. He had gone only a few yards when he was struck. After a torrid day, a downpour of rain at Grafton yielded 125 points in half an hour and late at night a storm brought the registration to more than three inches. The rain was accompanied by a. strong wind and a heavy thunderstorm. HORSES EARS STNCED. At Maclean, .lightning struck a tree in the Courthouse yard. Two horses had the hair round their eyes singed by the flash of lightning and Mr. S. L. North, who was standing close to the horses, received a stock, and found that the lightning had torn half the sliii-t from his body. The earth near by was torn up by the shock. Throe people in a- garage 20 yards away were dazed, and two others in the street were knocked over. A terrific clap ol thunder and a flash caused panic in the Maclean Baths, where swimmers crowded the water owing to the heat. At Lismore the storm was very intense, and the switchboard at the Clunes Post Office telephone exchange was damaged. Fuses were scattered about the room and the board burst into flames, but the fire was extinguished before much damage was done. Lightning struck trees, which fell across the telephone lines, and it is impossible to obtain telephone communication with a number of district towns. STORMS IN OTHER DISTRICTS. Serious local flooding occurred following the storm in the Casino district. In less than two hours nearly two and a-half inches was registered. Jn a number of residential districts, miniature lakes extended from the centre .of the. streets and covered the footways, temporarily cutting off access to homes. The cellars of two hotels were flooded, and the fire brigade engine was used to pump out the water.

The storm was accompanied by vivid lighting and a high wind, which dislocated the electric light service, in various parts of the town. The rain was driven with such force that it found its way into a number of business premises, causing considerable damage to stocks. At Kyoglo the wind blew with gale force, and damage was done to the roofs of sheds, growing maize crops, and gardens.