Storm sweeps through Sydney, four people in hospital after lightning ...
Four people have been struck by lightning in the CBD and more than 10,000 homes and businesses are without power in the city’s north after a sudden storm swept through the NSW east coast on Monday afternoon.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of flash flooding across the Greater Sydney region, with hail predicted around the Mid North Coast.
Time-lapse video captures a storm sweeping through Sydney on Monday.Credit: Alex Mayes Photography
Dramatic time-lapse vision captured the moment the heavens opened up over Sydney, with the city blanketed in grey clouds and torrential rain, sending city workers running for cover.
Four people were struck by lightning under a tree at the Botanic Gardens, near the Opera House, as the storm hit. A spokeswoman for NSW Ambulance said paramedics were called to the gardens about 12.45pm, right when the worst of the storm was hitting the city.
Four patients – a teenage boy, a woman in her 20s, and a man and woman both in their 30s – were knocked unconscious when the lighting struck and all four suffered burns.
Two patients were taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and two to St Vincent’s Hospital in stable conditions.
Sydneysiders were left running for cover.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
About 13,000 households and businesses around Balgowlah and Seaforth were left in a blackout after the storm damaged electricity services, provider Ausgrid said.
“Our crews are on the ground and will work to restore power as soon as it’s safe to do so,” the company said.
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Traffic lights were also blacked out on Kenneth Road and Condamine Street at Manly Vale.
And several thousand homes and businesses had outages in Hornsby, Turramurra, Thornleigh and Belrose.
The Bureau of Meteorology said an “upper trough and series of surface troughs” were causing the city’s slow-moving thunderstorms.
Jake Phillips, a senior meteorologist with the bureau, said the storms were “coming in off the sea from the south-east and pushing in towards the north from the north-west”.
“They have dumped some pretty heavy falls,” he told 2GB, warning of further heavy rainfall across the afternoon. The rain is “likely to persist for the next little while”, he said.
The heaviest falls were recorded in Kings Langley, in Sydney’s north-west, which had 48 millimetres of rain in an hour.
As the dramatic weather unfolded, anxious fans were tracking Taylor Swift’s jet as it was approaching Sydney, but she landed safely just before 1.30pm.
An SES spokesman said Castle Hill, in Sydney’s north-west, was bearing the brunt of the bad weather with multiple calls for help to flooded homes.
An automatic flash flooding alarm was triggered on Bexley Road in Earlwood.
NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Sean Kearns said falls could reach up to 100 millimetres up the coast.
“The NSW SES has prepositioned personnel throughout the region, and we are well-resourced to respond to any calls for assistance,” he said.
“I would encourage the public to follow the advice of emergency service personnel on the ground and not to drive through floodwater.”
The rain also affected Sydney’s rail network with the North Shore, Northern and Western lines running late due to damaged equipment at Milsons Point. Services were less frequent than usual and trips were delayed.
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