A man in his early 20s is dead and a woman injured after lightning struck their mountain campsite during the system of severe storms that swept over Sydney and much of northern New South Wales late yesterday.
Paramedics responded to a call at around 4:50am this morning from a campsite near the summit of Mount Warning, near the town of Murwillumbah about half an hour south-west of the Queensland/NSW border. The pair had trekked to the summit of the mountain and had spent the night there when the storm rolled over in the early hours of the morning.
Radar imagery shows the eye of a severe and dangerous thunderstorm hovering directly over Murwillumbah at the time of the incident.
It’s understood that CPR was performed on the man, but NSW police confirmed that he died at the scene. Paramedics also hiked to the second patient, who was reportedly suffering neck pain and singed hair as a result of the strike, but her current condition is not known at this time.
Police report that the pair, nationality unknown, were camping with a group of people at the top of the mountain. Authorities confirm that there are signs on the mountain warning hikers not to ascend past a certain altitude while storms are predicted or active.
This particular storm followed several severe storms that swept over the Sydney CBD late yesterday afternoon, causing 5,000-odd lightning strikes over the course of the afternoon and evening.
A house in Huntley’s Cove caught alight after being struck by a bolt during the peak of storm activity. Meanwhile, a man is in a stable condition after being struck by lightning while on board a yacht in Church Point.
The storm cells battered the city with winds of up to 96km/h, and dumped as much as 50mm of rain on the area.
Today’s forecast calls for much calmer weather, although there is a slight chance of more storm activity this afternoon. However the Bureau of Meteorology expects any storm activity to be far less severe than yesterday’s.
Source: SMH.
Photo: Mark Kolbe/Getty.
