Snow Breaks Power Lines

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 161, 11 July 1939, Page 3

Snow Breaks Power Lines

ACCUMULATED WEIGHT TOO MUCH FOR WIRES “A very heavy snowstorm on June 13 brought down our 11,000-volt lines in several places between Mt. Richards and Utuwai, and one steel cable in a span of 2178 feet over the Pohangina River at Piri Piri broke under the weight of ice and snow,” stated the engineer (Mr. W. A. Waters) in his monthly report to the Manawatu-Oroua Power Board yesterday. “This span,” he added, “was designed to have a 125 per cent, factor of safety with £-inch of radial ice. A resident who saw the span before it collapsed stated that the wires were over two inches in diameter with ice and snow before they broke. “The supply to Apiti and the northern area beyond Cheltenham was interrupted early the same evening, but at 3 a.m. next day, the lines all closed in again and the trouble was not found. Probably the trouble was due to branches of trees weighted down by snow, which cleared themselves, as numerous branches were seen broken off by the weight of snow, some -of them being Sins, in diameter near the trunk of the tree.

“The maximum fall was 12 to 14 inches ki a few places. Service lines, including two consumers’ poles, were broken and in one instance the weight of snow had pulled the boards off the house to which the service line insulators were attached.”