STORM IN MELBOURNE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18946, 18 February 1925, Page 12

STORM IN MELBOURNE.

ELECTRICAL DISTURBANCE, POWER STATION BURNED. DAMAGE TO DWELLING. An electric power sub-station was destroyed, the roof of a 20-roomed house in Camberwell severely damaged, the motors of an electric tram at Camberwell Junction fused, and a number of other buildings .were damaged severely by lightning that accompanied the tail end of a tropical storm that swept over Melbourne at 8.150 a.m. on February 11. This was the storm that deluged Adelaide several days before. It had spent most of its force before embarking on a short career of destruction over Melbourne. In all cases the places struck were shaken violently, and the people m the vicinity were frightened. Apparently two vivid flashes which followed in quick succession were responsible for the havoc. When Hawthorne and Malvern lire brigades were called to tho burning power station in Camberwell. they were restricted to the use of chemical extinguishers, owing to iho danger of being electrocuted by the streams of water from tho hoses making contact with the 15,000 volts in tho fiercely burning brick structure. When tho power was turned oft by the supply department, in answer to an 5.0.5., the apparatus was ruined. No sooner had the Hawthorn detachment returned to its quarters when a call was received by telephone for Woodstock Street, where it was found that the lightning had set fire to the 20roomed homo of Mr. Otto Romcke, of the firm of Romcke and Company, timber merchants. When the flames were subdued, after half-an-honr's work, half it the roof had been destroyed, and the contents of three bedrooms severely damaged. "The gardener was working at the rear of the honse when, following the two flashes of lightning that shook tho building and outhouses, smoke was seen rising from the roof. Two maids, who were the, only inmates at the time, received a fright. The electric tram was travelling along Burke. Road when the lightning struck the overhead wires, and with a load report the motors fused. It had to be towed back to tho shed. Precisely at the same time that the other places were struck, but in tho north part of the metropolis, the chimney of an 11-roomed house in "Prahran. was struck and demolished. The flash travelled down tho chimney and blew out the mantelpieces and grates of two adjoining fireplaces. A boarder named Christie, who had left the room only a few minutes previously had a very narrow escape. The interiors of tho adjoining houses were illuminated by the flash and were shaken by the deafening burst of thunder that followed. Tho shattered remains of a flagpole were scattered over the yard of the premises occupied by Mr. Harvey, of Northcote, and littered the road.