THE LATE THUNDERSTORM IN CANTERBURY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4202, 8 September 1874, Page 3

THE LATE THUNDERSTORM IN CANTERBURY.

The following description of the late extraordinary thunderstorm is from the Press ;—At 7 p.m. on Friday a fearful thunderstorm passed over Kaiapoi and that part of the northern district. The sky, which had been clear and starlit, was suddenly overcast with clouds, and about this hour there was a brilliant flash of sheet and forked lightning, which dazzled the eyes of persons in the houses, even in rooms where strong kerosene lamps were lighted. Instantly it was followed by a peal of thunder, which shook the foundations of the houses, in addition to causing windows to rattle. The shock was such that the cement and brick cellar at Oram’s Pier Hotel was cracked in places, and other brick buildings may have been similarly affected, but the borough schools escaped. This flash and clap was_ followed by , three others in quick succession, and all equally appalling. It is said that the leading horse in a dray on the north road was knocked down, but not injured. Several persons out of doors were temporarily blinded with the flash, many, too, noticing a strong sulphurous smell. One horse belonging to Mr. J. Baker was seen on Saturday to be then still suffering from blindness. At Mr. T. Taylor’s the lightning fused part of a galvanised iron wire, and struck a sapling poplar, cutting the tree into splinters. Mrs. Barnett, sitting by the fire' in her own house, was struck on one side, her arm and leg being for a time rendered powerless, but she was recovering on Saturday. A son of Mr. T. Vcysey was also affected in a similar way. In the house of Mr. W. Sansom, the paper on one of the rooms was split, a picture knocked down, and the nail on which it hung, strange to say, drawn out of the wall. In Mr. J. Matthews’ house the paper and canvas in his sittingroom were also rent. At one house a watch hanging on a nail near a window was caught by the current, thrown off the nail, and, on examining it, the owner found the works, including the spring, shattered as if broken under a hammer. At the policestation the top of a kerosene lamp chimney was cut off as clean as if done with a diamond. It is fortunate the storm was only of short duration, or probably loss of life might have occurred. The members of No. 6 Co., C.RV., had assembled for inspection parade, but the first flash so alarmed them that they beat a retreat.