Wollongong photographer Brad Chilby took this spectacular photo of a storm front rolling in over Wollongong in 2017. Photo: Chilby Photography.
Last night’s storm was “one for the history books,” Illawarra storm chaser Simon Angell said.
His lightning detector recorded almost 4000 strikes before he called it a night, and he said data this morning indicated there were about 10,000 across the region.
“The Illawarra often misses big storms like this,” he said.
“They either go around us, or as they come off the escarpment they’re much further from the ground and lose a lot of their energy.
“Last night, a huge line of storms developed, congealed, and their collective energy barreled across the state and unleashed a super barrage of lightning that’s quite rare for this part of the world.
“It was an amazing sight to see, like a movie.”
Many of the strikes were out to sea, however, thousands of them struck the ground, leading to widespread chaos across the energy grid.
A spokesperson from Endeavour Energy said more than 50,000 homes were without power overnight.
Of those, 20,000 were reconnected this morning and it’s hoped the remainder will get the power back on over the course of the day.
Power crew have more than 550 jobs to respond to, so this may take some time.
“Crews on the ground will make areas safe as a priority, then look to restore as soon as possible,” the Endeavour Energy spokesperson said.
“In areas where there is significant damage they may not be back online until overnight.
“We have poles down and trees covering lines; fixing this can take a bit of time and our hardworking crews have a lot of ground to cover.
“There’s a lot of work to be done and we will know over the course of the day what the timeline looks like for different locations.”
The State Emergency Service responded to 27 incidents overnight in the Illawarra, mostly for fallen trees and leaking roofs.
Major incidents included a tree down blocking the eastbound lane of Tongarra Road at Albion Park Rail, severe roof damage to a home on Barry Street in Cringilla and a tree down covering Otford Road between Helensburgh and Otford.
Power lines are down on Saddleback Mountain Road, and the road is shut between the water tower at the junction of Saddleback and Old Saddleback roads up to the junction with Fountaindale Road.
A NSW SES spokesperson said the heavy weather wasn’t over yet.
They urged anyone who comes across a flooded road to find an alternative route, stay away from fallen trees and powerlines and avoid camping near water and under trees.
“Severe thunderstorms are set to combine with a low-pressure weather system that is expected to bring locally significant rain from Thursday, through to Saturday,” the NSW SES spokesperson said.
“Widespread rain of 30-80 millimetres is expected, with some localised higher totals between 100-200 millimetres of rain possible.
“Friday is estimated to be the peak day for rain.”
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