Monstrous summer storms rolled over Newcastle and the Hunter late Tuesday night, showering the region in dramatic lightning strikes and a deluge of rain and scattered hail.
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Forecasters reportedly recorded more than 100,000 lightning strikes across the Hunter Region in a five hour period, one even hit the Bureau of Meteorology's radar at Lemon Tree Passage sending it offline about 1am Wednesday.
"Essentially a really strong front was moving through the state with storms ahead of it," bureau meteorologist Helen Kirkup said.
"It was recorded in the Central West at 5pm before reaching the Hunter about 7pm and continuing until late.
"The line of storm cells were each doing different things, with damaging wind gusts in some places, hail and storm continuing right through the night."
Have you snapped a shot of the storm? Email news@newcastleherald.com.au
There was also significant rainfall with the Bureau of Meteorology recording 10mm at Blacksmiths and Lake Macquarie, 12mm at Awaba and 16mm at Eleebana in just a one-hour [period between 8pm and 9pm.
The hail mostly fell around the Lower Hunter and parts of Port Stephens, with backyards in Telarah, Rutherford, Maitland centre and East Maitland peppered with ice.
Residents captured the moment an impressive cloud formation bore down on the suburbs bringing cracking thunder, intense lightning and heavy rain.
Wind gusts up to 100 kilometres per hour were recorded at Maitland, with gusts up to 80 kilometres per hour at Nobbys Head, as two intense storm cells drifted east toward the sea.
It was a busy night for the SES, NSW Rural Fire Service and the Cessnock District Rescue Squad as volunteers assisted with the aftermath and cleanup from the storms.
"One of the major safety factors after any storm is the danger of fallen powerlines, and last night was no different, there were a large number that were down," a rescue squad spokesman said.
"Our crews were tasked as far as Wollombi, but were also tasked to Cessnock, Ellalong and Paxton.
"Volunteers remained out helping the community until approximately 2am before going home for some well earned rest. The cleanup will continue today."
More than 22,000 homes and businesses lost power in last night's severe storms across Sydney, Central Coast & Hunter. Power has been safely restored to more than 18,000 sites with Ausgrid working to get the final 3,500 back on safely. For updates go to http://Ausgrid.com.au/poweroutages
There are no further storms expected to hit the city this week, with a possible thunderstorm forecast at Barrington Tops on Friday.
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Jessica Brown
Jessica began her journalism career in 2009 as a cadet at The Port Stephens Examiner before moving to London for a two-year stint working in magazines and digital publishing. The Lake Macquarie local returned to Australia where she took up a reporting role at The Maitland Mercury. She worked across several rounds including local council, police and property before moving into digital journalism and joining the team at The Newcastle Herald in 2017.
Jessica began her journalism career in 2009 as a cadet at The Port Stephens Examiner before moving to London for a two-year stint working in magazines and digital publishing. The Lake Macquarie local returned to Australia where she took up a reporting role at The Maitland Mercury. She worked across several rounds including local council, police and property before moving into digital journalism and joining the team at The Newcastle Herald in 2017.
Simon McCarthy
Simon McCarthy is a journalist working at the Newcastle Herald in NSW. He writes news and features, and produces video and multimedia, for the Herald and Herald Weekender magazine. He contributes regularly to the Newcastle Herald’s daily Topics column, and is the co-creator and producer of the Toohey’s News podcast. McCarthy has worked as a journalist in regional NSW since 2013. He joined the newsroom of the Newcastle Herald in 2017 from the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he worked from 2015 to 2016.
Simon McCarthy is a journalist working at the Newcastle Herald in NSW. He writes news and features, and produces video and multimedia, for the Herald and Herald Weekender magazine. He contributes regularly to the Newcastle Herald’s daily Topics column, and is the co-creator and producer of the Toohey’s News podcast. McCarthy has worked as a journalist in regional NSW since 2013. He joined the newsroom of the Newcastle Herald in 2017 from the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he worked from 2015 to 2016.
