VIOLENT STORM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22399, 21 April 1936, Page 8

VIOLENT STORM

HEAVY LIGHTNING POWER STATION STRUCK SWITCHBOARD WRECKED WIDE AREA IN DARKNESS One of the most violent electrical storms that has occurred near the centre of Auckland for a number of years struck the area between Mount Eden and Newmarket at 3.45 yesterday afternoon. A heavy lightning discharge fell upon the cable tower of the Auckland Elep-tric-Power Board's transformer station in Crowhurst -Street, Newmarket, shattering all the insulators and wrecking a whole battery of switches and switch gear within the building. All alternating current was cut off from the Epsom, Mount Eden, Eden Terrace and" 1 Remuera districts for between three and four hours and tramway services in various parts of tho city were disorganised until about half-past four. None of the transformer station staff suffered injury. Storm Quickly Over The storm, accompanied by heavy rain, came with remarkable suddenness from the south-west. The wind had been blowing from the north all the morning, but suddenly it veered round to the southward, bringing the storm with it..Tho electrical discharges, which spectators in Newmarket declared to be the most brilliant they had seen, were confined to the small area between the mountain, Newmarket and Khyber Pass. As soon as the outburst was over the wind moved back to the north and the storm quickly blew away in the direction from which it had come. The sun shone brightly and it was difficult to imagine that such a convulsion of nature had taken place only a short time before. When the lightning struck the substation it was attracted away from the building by the earthed ironwork of the tower, which extends over the footpath in front and carries a large array of 6000-volt cables. Every insulator was broken, and one of the cables fell, but fortunately no one was beneath at the time. There was a short but brilliant electrical display until power was cut off. Switch Gear Wrecked Where the lines enter the building a number of fragments were broken from the bricks. The full force of the lightning discharge was conveyed to the battery of switches occupying a high gallerv along one side of the interior. All" the gear "flashed over," receiving such damage as to make repairs impossible. The result was an electrical fire of short duration. The fire brigade was summoned, but had little to do when it arrived, as ( by that time the current had been cut off. It was most fortunate that none of the station staff was in the gallery at the time. "The discharge travelled along the lines for half-a-mile north and south of the station, severing a cable in two places in Gillies Avenue and blowing out a number of transformer fuses. A transformer at the intersection of Maungawhau and Seccombe's Roads was burned out. A Tramway Stoppage The Power Board's 22,000-\olt feeder from Penrose to King's Wharf was affected by the sudden extra load which the mishap threw upon it, and as a result lights in various parts of the city were put out for short periods. The direct current supply to the tramways from tho Newmarket, Kingsland and Point Chevalier converter stations was interrupted for a time, and nearly three-quarters of an hour elapsed before power was fully restored. The converters ay' Newmarket were not damaged by the lightning and were working again after a short interval. Tramway services were a good deal disorganised by the failure of power on so many routes, but the best possible arrangements were made by the traffic staff. Gear Due lor Replacement • The general manager of the Power Board, Mr. R. H. Bartley, said last night that the switch-gear at Newmarket had been regarded for some time as inadequate owing to the increasing load, and an entirely new set with a higher "rupturing capacity" was at present on order. When it wa3 installed the whole station would be redesigned. Mr. Bartley said repairs had consisted of renewing all the insulators outside the station and connecting up the lines so that all switching could be done at King's Wharf and at tho board's, station in The Drive, Epsom. This arrangement would be maintained until the new switch-gear arrived and was installed. Other Lines Undamaged The breweries, timber mills and factories in and around Newmarket were little affected by the mishap, as most of them are on the direct current sup* ply. The residential districts taking alternating current from the damaged station, however, were without light until well after darkness had fallen. No damage was done to the Transport Board's overhead lines, none of whiph cross the area most affected by the storm. The abnormal electrical conditions caused a number of telephone connections to fail temporarily, but only minor repairs had to be made.