HOUSE DAMAGED

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

HOUSE DAMAGED

HOLES TOKN IN HOOF CHIMNEY PARTLY WRECKED BRICKS THROWN ACROSS ROAD With the force of a bursting shell, lightning struck the home of Mrs. A. Johnson, at 52 Mountain Road, Epsom, when the electrical storm swept over the district yesterday afternoon. It tore gaping holes in the roof and partly demolished a chimney. Three women in the house. Mrs. Johnson, her daughter, Miss E. Johnson, and a friend, were terrified, but unhurt. Although an acrid sineH of burning filled the house after it had been struck, there was no outbreak of fire. The crash as the house was struck was heard for a considerable distance. It was at first feared that either the Mater Misericord iae Hospital or the Auckland Grammar School, the two largest buildings in the vicinity, had suffered, but the lightning struck between them. A chimney at the north-western corner of Mrs. Johnson's two-storeyed house was cut in halves vertically, and the tiled roof was penetrated in several places. Broken bricks and tiles were scattered in the front garden and across the footpath and road, and several large bricks were hurled about 50 yards into Clive Road, which is opposite. " Seemed Full ol Flame " " There was a crash, and the house seemed full of flame," Miss Johnson said. Bricks and tiles fell in a shower, but fortunately none penetrated the ceiling. The occupants of the house quickly disconnected the wireless, which was in use. The three women suffered a severe shock, particularly Mrs. Johnson, who was resting at the time. Torrential rain that followed a few minutes after the lightning poured through the holes in the roof and soaked through the ceiling into one of the rooms. Little damage was done by the water, however. The telephone wires to the house were severed. Passers-by narrowly escaped being struck by the falling bricks. A motorist, Mr. G. F. Joseph, of Heme Bay, who was driving in Mountain Road at the time, gave a graphic description of the house being struck. A Vivid Flash " There was an ear-splitting crash, and simultaneously a vivid flash of lightning," he said. " Not ordinary lightning, but something in the nature of a severe electrical disturbance. A few seconds later, there came the sound of falling tiles, and, looking up, I saw bricks coming away from the chimney. " The bricks did not merely fall; they seemed to have been thrown from the chimney," he continued. " They went with such velocity that had anybody been struck they would probably have been killed "

People in the vicinity hurried to the house to assist the occupants, and were surprised to find them unhurt.