HAIL AT WAITAKARURU

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 162, 29 September 1927, Page 14

HAIL AT WAITAKARURU

AN EXCEPTIONAL STORM A hailstorm of exceptional severity was experienced on the hills near Waitakaruru on Monday afternoon. It lasted about half an hour, but sq heavy was the fall that even in open paddocks the ice did not melt until the middle of the following morning, while as late as sundown hailstones could be found in depressions sheltered from the rays of'the sun. For miles the hills appeared to be covered with snow until about 9.30 a.m. The noise of the storm could be heard at Waitakaruru, miles away, and four men in a car in the midst cf the storm could not make their voices heard. They covered the windscreen of the car for fear that the glass would be broken. The hailstones were of exceptional size, and in llat. open places they lay several inches deep, while against banks the piles were over a foot deep. As far as, can be ascertained, no damage was done. Most of the country is unoccupied scrub land. The ragged foliage shows the force of the hail. The Thames Valley Power Board’s tree-planting gang were unable to work on Tuesday morning, when the ice began to melt as the water poured down the hillside in torrents. The streams were quickly swollen, and flooding was experienced for a short time on the flat land between Waitakaruru arid the hills. Many parts of the Hauraki Plains experienced a hailstorm about the same time, and though the fall was heavier than usual, it *,vas slight in comparison .