Lightning hits city power

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LIGHTNING strikes during a brief electrical storm over the city left hundreds of people without power for about 10 minutes on Saturday, but the show still went on at the Gisborne Unity Theatre.

The storm arrived on cue at about 4pm, coinciding with the opening lines of Gisborne Unity Theatre’s production of MacBeth: “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain’’.

Lightning from the storm hit an 11kV cable on the corner of Aberdeen Road and Cobden Street, causing a power outage across 1300 properties.

The power was returned quickly and the packed audience was able to see the show.

Eastland Network general manager Brent Stewart said most properties had power restored within 10 minutes.

“Another 105 people had part-power and were all fully back on at about 7pm.

“We’re looking to make repairs there today.”

The districtere suffered numerous smaller outages.

“The biggest one we had would have affected the Puha, Ngatapa areas, where the lightning hit the 50kW cable. This all happened about 4pm, affecting about 1700 properties.”

The intensity of the rain created temporary surface flooding in backyards and all over the city’s roads.

Water cascaded off bridges and side creeks and drains flowed strongly into the city’s rivers.

Sports forged on as the sky emptied part-way through the second half of the day’s main games, to the backdrop of lightning and thunderclaps.

Those caught in it while out for a walk, a training run, bike ride or training on the rivers found themselves more than a little light on wet weather protection.

How much rain? We're interested to hear how much rain fell, so if you measured it with a rain guage in your suburb let us know in the comments below.