Thunder, lightning, very, very frightening in Gisborne/East Coast on Tuesday; Strike hits Wainui house

A dusting of snow on the range near Tiniroto. This photo was taken from a Colvins Communication-owned weathercam at Whakapunake.

Freakish weather hit the Gisborne region on Tuesday in the form of heavy rain, thunderstorms, hail and snow over elevated places.

At around 4.30pm, Wainui resident Pete Anderson heard a deafening noise as his neighbour Steve King’s house on Wairere Rd was struck by lightning.

“It sounded like a bomb exploding. The cat freaked out and the dog was terrified,” Anderson said.

He was looking over his back lawn at the hail that had fallen when a massive flash of light came from the house next door and an explosive noise reverberated.

When his neighbour returned home a couple of hours later, some of the plaster from the roof had been blown on to the floor in the house and King went on to the roof to see if there was any further damage.

Electricity from the strike hit steel bracing of the GIB in the wall and blasted plaster into tiny pieces across the floor upstairs and downstairs, King told the Gisborne Herald yesterday. It also melted the the meter box.

Power was restored yesterday afternoon and King was still assessing what other damage had occurred.

King was not in the house at the time and his family were thankfully away.

Anderson’s house also sustained damage inside due to a power surge which blew up the fibre box and caused the induction cooktop to stop working.

A MetService spokeswoman said several cold fronts moved northwards up the country on Tuesday.

At the same time, a weather system in the upper parts of the atmosphere helped to exacerbate the weather that was felt on the ground. Together these brought rain, thunderstorms and hail to Tairāwhiti/Gisborne.

The cold fronts also ushered in a rush of cold air, leading to snow over elevated parts of the region. The clouds cleared and yesterday snow over many hills and maunga in the region could be seen on satellite imagery from space.

The heaviest falls looked to have been down to around 800m, but there could have been a few flurries at levels below that, the spokeswoman said.

Over the whole of Tuesday, especially from around 2pm, there were 223 lightning strikes in the region, mainly south of Tokomaru Bay. The thunderstorms dropped hail in several areas.

A weather system brought snow to a site at the top of Makaretu Rd. This picture is from the weathercam owned by Eastland Helicopter Rescue Trust.

Hail falls on Pouawa Beach during thunderstorms that struck the district on Tuesday. Photo / Jason Clayton