STORM AT AUCKLAND

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 163, 12 June 1939, Page 6

STORM AT AUCKLAND

LIGHTNING STRIKES HOUSE PEOPLE’S NARROW ESCAPE. AUCKLAND, June 12. Lightning shuck anu uamaged cxtensively a two-storeyed house, the home ol Airs E. Neweombe, 27 Norwood Hoad, Bayswater, at 4.45 pm. to-day. The occupants were severely shaken but not hurt, and though the house was damaged there was no fire. Striking a corner of the house the lightning tore away about 50 tiles. It apparently travelled to the ground between the outside wall and the lining, leaving a trail of damage and blowing a hole in the dining-room downstairs. Two yards away from the hole, which is about two feet square, was Airs K. Fowler, a sister of Airs Neweombe. “There was a tremendous explosion and I was knocked over,” Airs Fowler said. “Pictures and plaster seemed, to be everywhere.' 1 bad just disconnected the radio or it probably would have been damaged.” Upstairs were Mrs Neweombe and her son, Air K. Neweombe. The latter was almost knocked down. Glass was scattered over a bed whereon Airs Neweombe had been resting. The lightning broke the windows, splintered the picture-rails, and dislodged the wall plaster in several rooms and knocked the pictures to the floor. It extensively damaged an electric fuse and burst the water pipes at several joints, the water running everywhere. The’ occupants, as soon us they had recovered, used buckets and basins in an endeavour to protect tho carpets. A tree in the garden was stripped of all its branches and bark from a height of 20 feet. Lightning struck power and telephone lines in the Belmont district, causing a dislocation of the power. It was restored in the 'Jakapuna area about an hour later. _ Many transformers were fused in AYbangaparaoa, bdverdale, and Dairy l'lat distiicts. worst In memory. ELECTRIC STOIIAI AT HAMILTON. AIANY ALARMING OCCURRENCES. Per Tress Association. HAAIILTON, June 12. ■ Tlfc worst electric storm experienced in Hamilton for many years occurred on Sunday when, especially in the Fairfield district, several alarming experiences were recorded, in one instance a telephone was torn from the wall and completely shattered, and at the same time lightning struck a wireless aerial which vanished entirely as a fork of flame ran along the leadin, striking a bed which became enveloped in flames. In another home lightning struck a radio which was set on fire and damaged beyond repair. Several crystal tumblers were smashed as lightning struck a sideboard. Telephones were put out of commission throughout the district and windows in several homes were broken from concussion of the severest thunder in memory. Electric power services were intcirupted and an emergency plant had to he requisitioned at the Waikato Hospital. A fire-ball hit a paddock at Fairfield and forked lightning travelled along the fences. One woman was knocked from her chair by a lightning flash, but no one is reported in the district to bo injured, although one woman bad an alarming experience when an iron was struck by lightning and fused. Torrential rain in the afternoon was accompanied by a short but severe hailstorm. •