Dreadful Storms in Europe

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6622, 7 August 1931, Page 7

Dreadful Storms in Europe

MAN RENT IN TWAIN BY LIGHTNING. EXTENSIVE DAMAGE IN ENGLAND AND CONTINENT. United Press Association. —By Electric Telegraph. —Copyright. LONDON, Aug. 5. Terrific thunderstorms, causing widespread damage in Britain, France and Belgium, raged all the afternoon. In London they were accompanied by torrential ra* and thunderclaps. Train tunn s were flooded. All traffic from r’.ngsley Cross station was held up, and tram tracks in various suburbs were flood id. Several people were struck by lightning. A fisherman using a metal rod was struck and rent in twain. Lightning set fire to a tram car at Southampton. A fireball crashed on to an hotel roof. A tent in which ten North African soldiers were sheltering at Laon, in Northern' France, was struck by lightning. Eight of the men were killed. Four farm labourers in the Blois district were killed. Farm buildings were set on fire, and cattle were killed. Summer Floods in England (British Official Wireless.) Received Thursday, 9.50 p.m. RUGBY, Aug. 6. Tho severe thunderstorms last evening were followed by exceptionally heavy rainfalls in many parts of the country and low-lying villages in Wiltshire are flooded. Floods also occurred in Oxford and many roads aro impassable. A number of motor cars arc stranded in the flooded road.