HEAVY STORM IN SYDNEY.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 March 1918, Page 8

HEAVY STORM IN SYDNEY.

MAX KILLED BY LIGHTNING. A thunderstorm broke over Sydney on tlio afternoon of February 20, aecompanied by a deluge of rain and a sharp fall of 10 degrees in temperature. In twenty minutes 87 points of rain fell•Heavy peals of thunder preceded the rain, and when the storm broke it was only a matter of seconds before tlie streets were Hooded. The rain fell with such force that the water channels were very soon fast-flowing rivers, rapidly hanking np, as the drains were choked by the sudden volume. At Circular Quay the water rose quickly, and a torrent of water submerged the roadway at the foot of Pitt Streiet. At the Weather Bureau, between 1.45 p.m. and 2 5 p.m., 87 points of rain fell, and of this amount 55 points fell in ten minutes. This is at the rate of 330 points an hour. The storm was particularly severe at Cronulla, and at three o'clock Gilbert Henderson, a carter, was struck dead by lightning. lie had gone to the Cronulla beach to fish, with six companions. Tlicy w,™re standing close together when the lightning flashed. All of them were thrown down. Every article of clothing was burned off Henderson's body.