Two people have been struck by lightning in the Blue Mountains near Sydney as enormous thunderstorms swept across the east coast of Australia on January 20, 2020, local time.
Meanwhile at least two people have been treated for minor injuries in Canberra after a 15 minute hail storm wrecked cars, buildings and left people running for cover and birds falling dead from trees.
After Melbourne on January 18, 2020, Canberra and Sydney have been hit by vicious thunderstorms over the weekend, bringing destructive hail to the capital of Australia, Canberra, and dangerous lightning strikes that hit two in the Blue mountains near the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania, Sydney.
Two hit by lightning in Blue Mountains near Sydney
Lighning strikes hit two people in the Blue Mountains:
- A 16-year-old boy near Katoomba, NSW, at 2pm on January 20, 2020. He suffers burns to his torso, arms and legs.
- A 24-year-old man in the same region.
The two tourists have been hospitalised after being struck by lightning at Echo Point Lookout in the Blue Mountains, NSW
Hailstorm hits Canberra
The vicious thunderstorm first scared the hell out of residents of Canberry, bringing large and destructive hail that destroyed, homes, cars and disruptes power across the capitaly city.
Look at this insane hailstorm:
Pictures on social media show the front gardens of Parliament House in the Australian Capital Territory covered in golf ball-sized pieces of hail:
And destroyed car windows.
The ferocity of the downpour ripped branches from trees throughout the state.
Trees getting shredded by the #canberra #hailstorm. Hope the birds are ok! ? pic.twitter.com/fjlMesDmQ8
— Matthew Trewin (@trudoggydog) January 20, 2020
Wow. Very large hail just plummeting down in CBR. Stripped the trees, killed birds chaos on roads. pic.twitter.com/74fNrVQKRo
— Tom Swann (@Tom_Swann) January 20, 2020
And brutally killed dozens of birds throughout the capital city:
This poor Cockatoo was caught in the hailstorm that smashed through Canberra today . Friend found the poor ? in backyard after storm passed . pic.twitter.com/TW2jbI51A8
— Anthony Byrne (@AnthonyByrne_MP) January 20, 2020
The hailstorm was so powerful that cars had to stop and seek protection under trees (well actually not the best place during such a thunderstorm:
— Tom Swann (@Tom_Swann) January 20, 2020
Hail as big as golf balls and ferocious winds of up to 116 kilometres per hour have torn through Canberra in a storm that had residents running for cover.
Off to the vet pic.twitter.com/P009QuhEZi
— Tom Swann (@Tom_Swann) January 20, 2020
Power was also cut in the state after the supercell wrecked power poles, but it has since been restored to about 1,000 homes. Only 170 customers are still without power.
The intense storm is now heading to large swathes of drought-sicken NSW, Victoria and southeast Queensland. And it will also be destructive there. Severe thunderstorm alerts have been issued in those regions. So be ready for hail and thunderstorms in those regions. Find similar headlines on Strange Sounds and Steve Quayle. [News.com.au, 10Daily, ]
