A little over a week ago I wrote about Christchurch and its sweltering heat with temperatures reaching the 40 degree mark. But today it seems christchurch has turned another leaf with one of the most wild and powerful hail storm I have ever seen in this country. It was absolutely amazing to say the least. During the morning I was enjoying reading my book in the sun over in Governers Bay and at 10am I could start to hear the continuous thunder over the hills.
In the early afternoon I had to go out down to South Canterbury to visit some friends which was a disaster. I drove right into the storm at probably what was its peak. The hail stones probably the size of 50c pieces in diameter were pounding the windscreen and I was very sure that it was hard enough to break the glass or dent the metal so I sought shelter in the BP gas station in Rolleston while filling up and shocked at the power of how the water and hail was coming down.
After about 10 minutes the weather had cleared but it was evident at how powerful the storm was by the amount of water running down the roads. Continuing south it was amazing how thick the hail was. It looked like what the middle of winter would look like. In places the hail was at least 30cm thick on the ground and complete while out. Espessialy around Burnham.
Further down in Rakaia my car stopped. Typical BMW’s. The worst thing was it would start again. My only guess is that the extremely heavy and powerful rain and hail has got into the electrics somewhere and shorted something. The diagnostic is yet to be made. 🙁
From reports that I have been hearing in our Harcourts office this morning is that the storm was relatively isolated to the western and southern sides of the city People could see the lightning from the city but didnt experience the torential downpours. Areas in Lower Cashmare and around there were very badly hit by heavy rain with one of our staff reporting that they had been completely flooded out and that hail stones went through her roof. It will be interesting to hear what the total scale of damage has been. Further south when I was parked at the fuel station there were a number of cars with shattered windscreens and a few minutes before I got there the place was stuck by lightning.
When I get the camera out of my car I will upload a few photos here so you can see the extent of the hail from the service station and when I continued to drive. To say the least the weather was a freak of nature most probaly caused by convection updrafts but what ever it was it left its mark over southern Christchurch and Canterbury.
To see an article in the press click this link.
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I can’t imagine brick and mortar brokerages staying in business in the future as more and more consumers find what they need online.