ELECTRICAL STORM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 157, 8 May 1940, Page 5

ELECTRICAL STORM

LIGHTNING AND TORRENTIAL RAIN BLACK-OUT IN WHAKATANE Rain fell in the proverbial bucltetsful on Monday, when, commencing shortly after 5 p.m., an elec-. trie'al disturbance of considerable intensity passed over the district. The rain did not merely drop .o'r drift along—it just fell. The worst period of the storm was between o o'clock and find many were the town employees late home from work. At 5.20 a particularly vivid flash of lightning was followed immediately by the extinguishing of all lights and the town seemed ghost--ly as car head-lights picked up or silhouetted buildings and sheltering people. It gave Whakatanians a taste of what a black-out means but the lesson was only temporary, power being resumed within a minute or so. Another flash affected the light-* ing system later but this suspension of illumination was more short-lived than the first. The torrential rain lasted fol about three-quarters of an hour, then casing, to fall intermittently until eight o'clock, while the sky continued to sparkle in blue, disturbing flashes.