Lightning and thunder hits Canterbury 'like a sledgehammer'
Wednesday, 20 November 2019
More than 1500 lightning strikes hit the South Island during a six-hour storm that pelted Canterbury with damaging hailstones.
It was the second storm to hit the region in three days, after a tornado hit Christchurch on Monday, leaving two people injured, roofs ripped off buildings and debris – some contaminated with asbestos – thrown through the air.
On Wednesday, large, golf ball-sized hail stones smashed windows, damaged roofs, closed businesses and dented vehicles in Timaru in South Canterbury when the front landed just before noon.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) Mid-South Canterbury area commander Steven Greenyer said they had received 30 callouts between noon and 2.40pm.
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Over 500 lightning flashes in the past hour or so around #Canterbury!
View #NewZealand's only free, live, public Lightning Tracker here: https://t.co/Q2ZwYvbdxk
Most thunderstorms are falling apart now - but not all. pic.twitter.com/bNWUIx4QF6
— WeatherWatch.co.nz (@WeatherWatchNZ) November 20, 2019
Autoworld Timaru director Chris Churchward said 100 cars were damaged at his yard. The fleet of vehicles had dents, broken windscreens and broken wing mirrors.
By 2.30pm, hail was falling in Ashburton, about an hour's drive north.
In the city, dark storm clouds loomed before the lightning and thunder claps rang out for more than an hour. The hail largely skipped Christchurch, but large stones fell in North Canterbury.
One social media post said the impact sounded like 'someone hitting a sledgehammer against sheet metal right beside my head'.
Niwa said there were about 1500 lightning strikes in the south. Canterbury had only received 350 strikes in preceding 30 days.
There were no reports of injury or damage in Christchurch.
CLOSE CALL
Daniel Currie was working at Christchurch Airport when he captured a bolt of lightning behind an Emirates A380 aircraft that had touched down about 3.30pm on Wednesday.
'It quite often stops the odd meeting at work as it comes by but today with the storm and the timing of the lightning it made for an awesome show,' he said.
Colleague Billie Hammett also witnessed the close call.
'The planes were all waiting to unload but couldn't because of the weather so [we] were just waiting on the tarmac for clearance and there were multiple lightning strikes … everyone was fine nothing caught fire but looks like a close call. [It] made for an awesome photo.'
For a short time, passengers at Christchurch Airport were warned to stay inside the terminal.
An airport spokeswoman confirmed an announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon, recommending people remain indoors until the lightning storm was over.
'Airways, which manages air traffic movements, also has two aircraft sitting on taxiways awaiting clearance to move,' she said.
Christchurch City councillor Aaron Keown said he was driving down Johns Rd, near the airport, when he saw what appeared to be a big bolt of lightning strike the traffic control tower shortly before 4pm.
An Airways New Zealand spokeswoman said the control tower was not struck by lightning.
She said while it remained unclear it was believed lightning may have struck a car park nearby.
The spokeswoman was unable to confirm whether flights had been halted while the storm passed over the city.
However, she said aircraft were capable of landing but were unable to leave as they could not refuel during lightning storms.