ELECTRICAL STORM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 December 1938, Page 8

ELECTRICAL STORM

DAMAGE TO POWER SYSTEM ESTIMATED AT £lOO. (“Times-Age” Special.) Damage estimated at about £lOO was done to consumers’ installations and the board’s system by the electrical storm on December 8. according to a report by the Secretary-Manager, Mr G. Brown, at today’s meeting of the Wairarapa Electric Power Board. Mr Brown stated that: “In a number of cases, direct strikes took place cn the system. In one case, a transformer was burnt out, but otherwise cur protective apparatus worked successfully, and comparatively little damage took place on the 11,000 volts transmission system. There wore a number of cases where the lightning currents entered consumers’ installations, and although in two cases the insulation on the neutral wire collapsed, the earth wires which are installed to drain the installation of dangerous currents, functioned satisfactorily. In one case, the overheating of the neutral wire ignited the insulation behind the switchboard, but in all other cases damage was confined to blown protective cutouts, service mains, meters and two-time switches. “I would estimate the damage on consumers’ installations at approximately £3O to £4O, and damage on the board’s system at approximately £6O. The whole of the transmission system has had a severe shaking and the stresses put on all apparatus during this storm may cause breakdowns at some future date. Considering the severity and duration of the storm, I am satisfied that our methods of having large capacity lightning arrester stations and consolidating our earthing system is sound, and greatly assisted in draining the system rf lightning and keeping the damage down to a minimum.”