Gale and Hail Sweep Dominion; Extensive Damage Done

Northern Advocate, 10 August 1938, Page 5

Gale and Hail Sweep Dominion; Extensive Damage Done

[Per Press Association. Copyright.] WELLINGTON, This Day. gTORMS IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE DOMINION RESULTED IN A SERIOUS HOLD UP YESTERDAY IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF TELEGRAPHIC TRAFFIC.

The Telegraph Department advise:! at 12.50 p.m. telegraph and telephone circuits between Wellington and Christchurch wore interrupted, due to a fault north of Kalkoura. It was later ascertained that the trouble was caused by a pole falling down one mile north of Kaikoura.

An endeavour was made to obtain outlets via Greymouth. but this was not possible, because a tree had fallen across the line near Reefton.

Emergency radio circuits were opened between Wellington and Christchurch and between Wellington and Greymcuth, and the Awarua radio was used for urgent traffic.

► Telegraphic Interruptions. Faults developed on the Napier-Taupo-Auckland line at 2 p.m., resulting in the loss of two main telegraphic I routes between Auckland and Well- ! ington. The third and only remaining Auckland-Wellingfon circuit, via Napier and Taupo, was interrupted at 3 p.m., and line trouble also developed on the Main Trunk mote between Ohakune and Palmerston North. There was some trouble on the lines north of New Plymouth, which affected the working of the Wellington-. Auckland circuit via that route. Hail and High Wind. Wellington was lashed by a storm yesterday, accompanied by heavy gusts of wind from the north and north-west. The highest gust, recorded at the Rongotai aerodrome at 7.5 p.m., was 69 miles an hour. The Meteorological Office reported that half an inch of rain had fallen in half-an-hour.

“Hailstones as big as canary’s eggs,’’ was the description by a resident whose house was exposed to the full fury of the storm in the evening. The noise of the hail on the roof drowned out the wireless for fully five minutes, and made conversation in an ordinary tone out of the question. The barometer stood at 29.25 inches at 9 o’clock last night, having fallen half an inch since noon and .85 inch since the previous night. In steep thoroughfares, water mixed with melting hail poured down in a torrent. Silt, which jammed the points at the Botanical Gardens, caused a hold up of tram traffic for about 20 minutes. Little Damage in Auckland.

In Auckland yesterday, a high northerly wind, rising at times to gale force, accompanied by intermittent rain, was experienced. Although the gale ranked among the most severe of the winter, little damage was reported. No serious delays occurred to shipping movements, in spite of rain and heavy seas in the Gulf and off the coast.