Wild weather peaks as lightning explodes tree, damages car in Myrtle Bank
HOUSES shook and debris was thrown for 50m in all directions after lightning struck a car and tree, rocking a quiet Myrtle Bank street on Wednesday morning.
HOUSES shook and debris was thrown for 50m in all directions after lightning struck a car and tree, rocking a quiet Myrtle Bank street on Wednesday morning.
House owner Emma Altman told The Advertiser her son and elderly mother had been in the house when the lightning struck a nearby tree just before midday.
“They had just stepped out of the bedroom when the lightning struck,” Ms Altman said.
“They heard the lightning strike and the house shook, then the branch landed on the house.”
Shards of the tree were scattered down the street and in neighbouring yards with a branch ending up on the roof of a house across the road.
The branch breached a gas main on the side of the house causing a potentially dangerous gas leak before SES could arrive.
A car parked next to the tree also bore the full force of lightning and was unable to be moved because of fried electrics, according to an SES member.
Ms Altman praised the quick thinking of her 19-year-old son who evacuated everyone from the house and ensured power was turned off when the gas leak was discovered.
“The SES and MFS were also extraordinary,” Ms Altman said.
“They were here within minutes and had everything secure in no time.”
Cleve resident Aileen Hampel said large hail stones so big they broke a window pelted the Eyre Peninsula town about 1.30pm.
“It came down fairly big... it started off with little hail and then it was big and I ended up getting a broken window,” she said.
“The little stuff was OK, but then it was big.
“I had to move my book shelf, but it hasn’t done too much damage.”
Along with the hail, she said 15mm of rain fell in about 10 minutes, causing her roof to leak into her kitchen.
“You couldn’t see the lawn, the streets were white,” she said.
An SES crew arrived promptly, covering her broken window ahead of further rain and strong winds likely later today and into tomorrow.
“I’m pleased that the SES has been here and put a protector over the window where it was broken,” she said.
Fellow Cleve resident Julie Minge said her corrugated perspex pergola was “shredded” by the hailstones.
“We had the first storm front come through and then it was calm again. Next thing I knew we had another one come through, it happened pretty quickly and lasted only a few minutes,” she said.
“There was hail up to 3cm in diameter. The most amazing thing I found was that you could smell it - it was like eucalyptus - because it was coming off the trees.”
She said the town had experienced four seasons today - with the weather turning from sunshine to cold, wet and windy ahead of the two storm fronts to hit the area so far.
“We’ve had sunshine, we’ve had everything, it’s been a really unusual day.”
SES spokesman Jon Carr said crews had attended more than 160 jobs by 3.30pm.
“We have only just seen the start of it yet,” he said.
“I suspect we will get busy tonight and into tomorrow.”
He said crews had responded to incidents of mainly minor flooding and fallen trees, mostly on the Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas.
“What we are concerned about in particular is although there has only been a little bit of rain really, it certainly got the creeks running pretty quickly,” he said.
“They rose very quickly so we are obviously keeping a really close eye on a number of creeks.”
He said the service was also concerned about farm dams which may burst and boats breaking their moorings.
A swift water team is on standby at Port Pirie, preparing for floodwaters in that area.