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Power cut to thousands of homes as severe lightning storm strikes Central Coast

POWER was cut to more than 4000 homes after a brief but spectacularly violent storm ripped through the Central Coast last night — without warning — sparking flash flooding and hundreds of lightning strikes.

A spectacular shot of `ball lightning’ over Avoca by Zee Moo.
A spectacular shot of `ball lightning’ over Avoca by Zee Moo.

POWER was cut to more than 4000 homes after a brief but spectacularly violent storm ripped through the Central Coast last night — without warning — sparking flash flooding and hundreds of lightning strikes.

More than 40mm of rain was recorded at the Gosford weather station where the bulk of it, or 27.6mm, fell in just one hour between 8.30pm and 9.30pm.

Andy Doyle shot this amazing strike from the Rip Bridge.
Andy Doyle shot this amazing strike from the Rip Bridge.
Multiple lightning strikes touch down over Terrigal. Picture: Andrew Cooney
Multiple lightning strikes touch down over Terrigal. Picture: Andrew Cooney

The northern part of the Coast was spared the worst of the deluge with just 14.8mm of rain recorded at Norah Head.

But what it lacked in rainfall the northern half of the Coast more than made up for in a spectacular, and at times scary, lightning display with 537 strikes recorded across the Somersby plateau, east to Bateau Bay and north to Charmhaven.

Lightning storm, Ava Megahey, Killarney Vale
Lightning storm, Ava Megahey, Killarney Vale
A dramatic lightning strike over Gosford. Jodie Welch.
A dramatic lightning strike over Gosford. Jodie Welch.

Gosford State Emergency Services (SES) controller Rolf Garda said four crews were called to 12 jobs with lightning bringing down a large tree at Green Point and localised flooding at Showground Rd, Gosford, and Wyoming.

The storm was as quick as it was volatile with Mr Garda saying some of the localised flooding subsided by the time crews arrived.

“It was fairly horrendous,” he said.

Lightning over Long Jetty. Photo: Jim Picot
Lightning over Long Jetty. Photo: Jim Picot

The storm appeared to come out of nowhere with no severe weather warning issued by the Bureau of Meteorology yesterday afternoon.

Wyong SES controller Allan Benson said crews were called to one job after a tree came down.

“The storm was violent but there was no wind,” he said.

Jarrod Andrews took this picture of localised flooding at Gosford near the hospital.
Jarrod Andrews took this picture of localised flooding at Gosford near the hospital.

Ausgrid meanwhile reported power was cut to 4100 homes across the Coast including 1300 customers at The Entrance, 1800 customers at Morisset, 900 homes at Berkeley Vale and 1800 customers at Ettalong.

Lightning tracking website lightningmaps.org recorded more than 750 lightning strikes across the Coast.

The weather bureau is predicting a milder day today with a top temperature of 24 degrees and the chance of sunshine breaking through the clouds later this afternoon.

A lightningmaps.org image of the hundreds of strikes which lit up the evening sky across the Coast.
A lightningmaps.org image of the hundreds of strikes which lit up the evening sky across the Coast.

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-coast/power-cut-to-thousands-of-homes-as-severe-lightning-storm-strikes-central-coast/news-story/684a71ffba78613cb37c42ce3fdac8c4