STORM IN MASTERTON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 December 1938, Page 6

STORM IN MASTERTON

LOUD THUNDER AND VIVID LIGHTNING. CLIMAX TO ROUGH NIGHT. A thunderstorm of unusual severity between 8 and 9 o’clock this morning was a climax to a rough night in Masterton. With the storm at its peak shortly before 9 o’clock vivid flashes of lightning and resounding claps of thunder were almost simultaneous. Heavy rain squalls fell at intervals and in town a number of watertables were unable to cope with the volume of surface water. The storm passed to the east and later the thunder was heard again to the north-east. The lightning affected the automatic telephone service in town, about a dozen fuses being blown out and a number of lignming guards damaged. The faults were quickly repaired by the P. and T. staff but the full list of damage to subscribers’ ’phones has not yet been received.

TELEPHONES AND POWER,

INTERRUPTIONS IN CARTERTON DISTRICT.

(“Times-Age” Special.)

Carterton and district were swept by a very heavy thunderstorm, accompanied by torrential rain, in the early hours of this morning. At about 3.30 a.m. the storm broke and thunder continued incessantly until 9 o’clock. As a result of the storm, the Wairarapa Electric Power Board’s service was temporarily out of commission. So heavy was the downpour of rain that the watertables in parts of the borough were unable' to carry the water, which surged over the footpaths in places. Telephones in and around Carterton were affected. At Swamp Road. Mr Peter Bain’s telephone was blown cut and at Middle Run Mr W. Henry Booth’s service was thrown out of commission. Several other places were also affected and the linesmen are very busy effecting repairs.