STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

Hokitika Guardian, 3 November 1927, Page 1

STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

EMPLOYEES’ ALA RAI fNT EXPERIENCES.

AUCKLAND, Nov. 1

Auckland was startled about 0.15 this morning by an alarmingly loud clap of thunder quickly succeeding a lightning flash of dazzling intensity. To many residents in the vicinity of Hutchinson's Store in Kliyber Pass roail, where the lightning shattered a parapet surmounting the building, the experience was positively terrifying. “ It was like the firing of a howitzer alongside one,” said Air V. E. Elliott, manager of the store. “ There was a blinding flash, followed by a deafening explosion, and the noise of masonry being scattered over the roofs of ours and adjacent premises. Almost at once the office on the first floor just under the parapet which was struck, and in which several employees and mv.sell were at the time, became filled with smoke caused by tlie fusing of electrical connections.”

Of tlie 17 people in the store at the time the majority suffered a severe momentary shock. Fortunately the Rising of the electric and telephone lines was not followed by any more extensive burning, and within tbe building there was nothing beyond the condition of tlie switches to indicate that anything untoward had occurred. One employee who was resting his hand on an interior iron fixture when the lightning found its mark received a rather severe shock.

The vagaries of the effect of a lightning “ strike ” .were exemplified in that the wooden verandah roof, although not itself damaged, was thrown out from the wall of the building an inch or two. being perceptibly “ out of plumb.” One pane of glass was cracked. There was evidence that the lightning passed to earth via the water pipes in the building, an interesting effect of this being that when the taps were turned on afterwards the water ran rod for several minutes, due apparently to the electrical precipitation of oxidised iron. The .spectacular effect in the street outside was arresting. The parapet, of a style of architecture not now favoured. is surmounted by a number of concrete halls with a large one at the apex. Apparently it was the big centre hall which attratced the holt. After the crash the centre part of the brick and mortar facade appeared as if it had been struck by a shell. A gap some five foot in extent showed where the bolt had struck with a peculiar explosive effect. For a distance of 70 yards up the road towards the city and for a chain or so in th other direction bricks and mortar were scattered. Near-by gardens received their baptism of projectiles. It was extraordinary that no front shop windows were struck.

Air A. E. McCartney, a commercial traveller, residing at 17 Norana avenue, was driving past the store alone in his motor-car when the lightning struck. Some of the flying bricks and mortar crashed through his windscreen an struck him about the face and head. He sustained minor cuts and abrasions. Flying bricks broke an electric service wire leading into a residence next door to Hutchinson's, and in a shop across the road the fusing of an electric wire started a (ire in the roof of a room, but the outbreak was quickly suppressed. In Miller's garage, at least 200 vards nwav. mechanics were

startled by a brilliant play of lightning about a water-tap Ivy a work bench. Solder was melted where a wire was attached, hut no damage resulted. In many adjacent houses electrical connexions were thrown out of action, and people shocked by the noise and concussion. This is the second instance of a house being struck by lightning in Auckland within the past two months, l'lie other occurred at Birkenhead, where a tiasli struck a chimney, shattering the masonry and i iping a sheet of galvanised iron off the roof. An occupant of the promises who was poking the fire below had the poker wrenched out of Ids hand, and received a shock. On August 30th a flash struck the earth in a vacant section at Mount Eden, affecting many bouses, breaking one window and interrupting electrical services.