STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

ELDERLY MAN KILLED OTHERS SERIOUSLY INJURED ! terrific holiday storm ;In one of the most disastrous stormy Jlffi Great .'Britain 'has experienced for moro J than. 30 - years - a man was killed and a \ number of other persons were wore or ? less severely . injured by lightning on '|l|j Monday, August 1, the popular " August || bank holiday." Threo golfers—one a -Rugby international arid famous cricketer and -V another the brother of a peer—were struck by a blinding flash while taking shelter in Suffolk; and two of their caddies suffered in a similar way. The storm line stretched from Land's End to .-the; East Coast, and, catching *v v ■ London and the suburbs at its peak, caused tremendous damage to builditig Sj turned streets into rivers, flooded shops and dwellings,' and dislocated the public travel services. Vivid lightning, which accompanied the --ffterrific fall of rain, had much more serious \ consequences than the heavy flooding. ~ gg?| Three men, Mr. Ilarry G. Smith, aged ® 64, of Twickenham; Mr. George Dennis, .'ll* aged 63, of Hanworlh; and Mr. James ' Kelly, uged 72, of Twickenham, who had been watching a cricket match on Twickenham Green, dashed for shelter when the storm first broke, -and took cover be- Iff neath a chestnut tree.

Lightning struck the tree, ripped off the bark, and, in the words of an eye-witness, " threw the men round like a Catherinewheel and hurled them to the ground." Mr. Smith was killed instantly, and Mr. Dennis and Mr. Kelly both suffered from partial paralysis of the legs. Golfers at Alderburgh, Suffolk,. had a terrifying experience, especially The Hon, Andrew Nicholas, Vanneck, brother of Lord Huntingfield, Captain E. I. M. Barrett, Rugby international footballer and Hampshire cricketer, Major Marriott and Percy W. Cook and Stanley White, two caddies.

Caught in a Blue Flame When the storm came up, shortly ' before four o'clock," Mr. R. E. Green- i ' Smith stated, " about a dozen of us ran T'f ■ for shelter to a small hut with galvanised ' -Va roof near the fourth green. Some of us .- 3 were inside the hut and the others just I outside. We had there for' about 3j| five minutes when there was a blinding J flash ■of blue flame which seemed to en- i velop us. At -the same time thero was a loud explosion as if something bad fallen on top of the hut.

" I saw Mr. Yanneck, Captain Barrett, Mjijor Marriott, and two caddies lying prostrate on the ground outside the huL We ran to them and found that they were unconscious and that the hair .on their beads was badly singed. That we were not all struck seems a pifciracle, because we were all standing within a few feet of each other."

The victims, with • the exception of •Major Marriott, were removed to a hospital ■ where the four of them recovered consciousness, and the caddie, Cook, was permitted to 'go home; Captain Barrett's were peculiarly painful. They included a burned tongue. At East Budleigh, Devon, a flash of lightning temporarily crippled Miss Ivy Pat, daughter of the Budleigh Salterton stationmaster, and threw a passing cyclist from his machine. He was uninjured. When Townfield School, Hayes, Middlesex, was struck, slates were torn off the Sbles > and part :of a ' gable wall was ocked down and the flagstaff broken. A house at Stepney—the occupiers were away on holiday—was struck by lightning and a small outbreak of "fire followed.

Remarkable Escape Crockery was smashed in_ a .'house at Plaistow, which was' struck by lightning. There were five people in the house at the time, but nobody was hurt. . " | ' Lightning also struck the coping c-f Pilgrim House, a London County Council block of flats in Landsdowne Place. Bricks and slates fell on either side, and the roof was damaged in several places. The fire brigade turned out, but their services % were not needed, and no one was injured. People fainted and women and children were terrified.

London seems to have suffered move than 'any other part of the country from the torrential rain. It caused floods ovec a wide area, turned streets into held up buses and tramcars, delayed some of the Underground trains, and created s waterspout in Parliament Square. The basement of a restaurant in Ludgate Circus was flooded to a depth of . 3m. or 4in. The sound of running water was heard by customers, and then a .miniature wave ran across the floor. Soon the water covered the entire floor, and cigarette boxes,, ice. cartons, and wooden boxes began to drift along with the current. Waitresses splashed through to the tables, salving what they could. The Horse Guards Parade was flooded long beft.re the storm had subsided, and the water in places reached a depth of a foot. Altogether, over an inch of rain fell in the heart of London. The total registered on the Air Ministry roof in Kingsway was nearly an inch and a-fifth. Roughly, 80,000 tons of rain fell on the City of London alone, in about an hour. The Umbrella Peril At the inquest at Twickenham on the man, Harry Smith, who was killed at the cricket match, George Dennis related that Smith, James Kelly, and himself sheltered* under a tree in the hope that the cricket match would bo resumed. Smith held an open umbrella, which he said he would put down if the storm continued. Tha Coroner: Don't you think it was rather foolish to put up the umbrella ? Dennis: I said to the men I did not think we should have. any more storm while it was 1 raining so hard, but I had no sooner uttered the words than Smith was down on the ground. It was foolish to put the umbrella up, although I did not think so at the time.

The Coroner: You have had a lucky escape. Witness: Yes. The only thing that saved me was that I had rubber heels on my boots. There were grey patches of sulphur on the boots.

Dennis took off liis coat in court to show the burnt hole in the lining caused by the lightning. Dr. A. G. Thompson stated that Smith's scalp, neck, and the the right leg were scorched. On thoc front of the chest there were streaks. S

The Coroner: Were the marks on the body a replica of 'the umbrella ?—I cannot say that. The marks were streaky and may have been" a replica. In recording a verdict of " Death by misadventure," the coroner remarked that it was quite easy to be wise after the event, but it was a pity that the umbrella was put up. Another Severe Storm

Much damage was done by lightning, rain, and hail in the violent thunderstorms which visited many parts of the British Isles on August 12. In London many houses were struck by lightning, thousands of greenhouse panes were broken by great hailstones, many gardens were ■vvrecked, houses and shops were flooded, and telephone circuits broken. In the country corn crops were flattened by the hail, and a 53-miles-an-hour wind. Much damage was done to fruit and corn. In 4 Scotland the Inveramsay railway station was set on fire by .lightning and burned down, many cattle were killed, houses were struck, and Paisley was plunged into darkness by the breaking of an electricity " grid " cable. The storm passed over London between 5 and 7.30 a.m., after a stifling night. It was accompanied by hailstones of unusual size, which in many areas lay for half-an-hour, making the ground as white as if snow had fallen. The hailstones stripped leaves from the" trees and ruined parks and suburban gardens. In the Lea. Valley the biggest glasshouse area in England, tens of thousands of panes of glass were broken. The damage was the worst there since 1897,