VIOLENT FLASH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23226, 21 December 1938, Page 12

VIOLENT FLASH

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING . . ORDEAL IN HOUSE WOMAN THROWN DOWN DISCOVERED UNCONSCIOUS [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] WOODVILLE, Tuesday With an ear-splitting report and the sound of crashing glass, lightning struck a house at Woodvillo at the height of a fierce thunderstorm this morning and stunned the elderly woman occupant. She was thrown down over a table, where she was found later. When she recovered she said that all she . remembered of her ordeal was a deafening noise and a blaze of light as she fell.

The woman, Mrs. E. M. Christiansen, of Franklyn .Road, was preparing breakfast when the lightning struck. She was standing only a few feet from the point o£ impact. Her son, who was working in the cowshed, heard the noise and hurried across to the house. He found his mother lying across the table.

Six panes of glass in the kitchen window were broken, a solid verandah post was split, spouting was torn from ita position, and paint on the wall was burned. The electricity supply to tbe house was interrupted.

STORM IN MANAWATU GALE AND HEAVY RAIN LIGHTNING AFFECTS POWER RIVERS ALL RUNNING HIGH [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] PALMERSTON NORTH, Tuesday An exceptionally violent thunderstorm occurred in the Manawatu district at an early hour this morning. It was accompanied by the heaviest rain experienced in Christmas week for many years, and the wind at times blew a gale. Power failures occurred tli rough lightning, and at Westella an electric supply transformer was struck. The steel tank of the equipment was left bulging outward and the felt packing was blown out. The water channels in the city area* were for a time unable to cope with the downpour. Although all the rivers and streams are carrying a large amount of water no serious flooding has been reported. TARANAKI DOWNPOUR GALE TO 50 MILES AN HOUR [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] NEW PLYMOUTH, Tuesday Only .69in. more rain is needed at New Plymouth this month to make the figures for December the heaviest for ten years. Torrential rain last night and early this morning added .70in. in a few hours to the already unusually heavy December fall. Minor flooding again occurred' on footpaths and roads in New Plymouth during the downpour and rivers .in North Taranaki rose quickly above their hormal levels. More than an inch of rain was recorded at North Mount Egmont, almost all of which fell between midnight and daybreak. The mountain hostel was lashed by a fierce gale which swept Taranaki, records at the New Plymouth aerodrome at mid-day showing its force to be 50 miles an hour.