STORMS IN VICTORIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1406, 1 February 1873, Page 3

STORMS IN VICTORIA.

Ballabat. [ARGUB.J Ballarat has not presented so clean a appearance for years as it did on th morning of the 6th — all the streets an footpaths looking as though they ha been scrubbed overnight ; everything tha water could move was swept off to th Yarrowee. The cause of this was thunderstorm, which was of a partis but most severe character. The store commenced about a quarter to twi o'clock, and raged with much violenci for nearly an hour; tbe lightning wai intensely vivid, and was chiefly of thi kind known as "chain." The thundei was loud and grand, and the rain fell it sheets with such force that from man] parts of the crowns of streets the meta was quite washed away. A heavy flood in the Yarrowee was fully expected, bul fortunately those who were preparing foi it were disappointed. The storm seems from accounts to hand to-day, to hav< been confined to an area of from Id to %. miles diameter, and Ballarat appears tc have been near the centre of the circle. From the number of almost miraculous escapes reported, the lightning appears tc have been of a less fatal character that usual. Among the many reports referred to, the following are the most prominent. At Dead Horse, two miners wh" were out walking tjak refuge in an old tunnel, and during the storm they describe what they saw to be a blaze of intense light rush up to them, and felt knocked down by it ; they do not know how long they lay, but suppose it to have been nearly an hour; they both recovered consciousness at the same time, and felt no bad effects from the accident. An elderly couple of the name of Kenworthy, living near the Prince of Wales claim, in a hut covered with bark, were both knocked down simultaneously by a ball of fire, which seemed to come in at the door. The old man was the first to recover, and he believed his wife to be dead; she however soon recovered, and neither of them feel any bad effects this morning. Part of the roof is scorched, and looks as 4f£pugh an iron poker at a white heat had Hbeen drawn along it. A ball of fire also entered the house of Mrs Stephens, in Dana street, knocking down two of her daughters, who remained insensible for some time, violently forcing two boys back from the windows at which it arpeared to enter, striking another daughter on the head and knee, and then smashing a window pane as it seemed to go out of the place; all the members of this family had recovered before bedtime, except the girl who was struck on the head, and she is not very much hurt. A boy of the name of Beddle, in Dawson street, was, as. he. sat; at dinner, violently thrown down, and the knife forced from his hand across the room, but he was not hurt at all.' Mr Thomas, of Lyons street, who was out on horseback, felt a blow on the back of his head as a flash of lightning reached the earth, and oh taking off his hat, found it indented as though struck with a stone, but it presented no sign of scorching or of burning, nor did he suffer any pain. A few of the heavy crops and tome of the gardens, within the influence of the storm have suffered severely.