TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 451, 5 June 1937, Page 6

TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE

THUNDERBOLT STRIKES SCHOOL Large Hole Torn In Roof Press Association —Copyright. Auckland, June 4. Another thunderbolt was experienced at. Pukekohe this afternoon. It struck the new wing of the Pukekohe high school about 3.30, tearing a large hole in the roof and scattering tiles tor some distance round the building. Fortunately the. children who attend the school had left for home a few minutes earlier, and no one w-as injured.

The headmaster, Mr W. F. J. Munro, and the members of the staff were in the school when the building was struck by the thunderbolt and for a brief epace were thrown into a state of confusion. “We did not know whether we were coming or going for a. minute or two,” Mr Munro stated subsequently. “We were deafened by the noise and confused by the flash. Telephone wires were damaged and fuses were blown.”

During a severe storm which swept the Pukekohe district early on May 6 last a farm at Helvetia, about one mile outside Pukekohe, was struck by a thunderbolt and four fat cows, valued at from £3O to £35, were killed. The cattle, which were the property of Mr John Schlaeffer, were grazingin one of his paddocks and were fully 200 yards apart. The thunderbolt struck the ground near one of the cows and tore a huge hole in the ground many feet deep and resembling a shell hole.