Coles and Woolworths customers shop in the dark as wild storm batters Aussie state
While power has returned to some, other areas of the state are still in darkness.
Intense storms battered parts of NSW on Monday cutting power to thousands of homes and businesses, causing commuter chaos and hospitalising a group of four who were knocked unconscious by a lightning strike.
Woolworths and Coles stores in Sydney's Northern Beaches were pictured with bags covering fridges and shoppers walking through dark aisles following power outages in the region.
Power returned to the area at 2.30pm, though other suburbs, including parts of Turramurra, Hornsby and Ettalong on the Central Coast, are still in darkness with an estimated 4-8 hours until lights will come back on.
Yahoo News Australia has reached out to Coles and Woolworths for more information on its stores but it is understood all are now trading as normal.
Commuters impacted by wild storms
Weather conditions have also impacted transport, shutting down train lines including the T1 North Shore Line and leaving some commuters stranded.
"Trains not running between North Sydney and Gordon due to significant storm damage," Transport NSW said.
Four struck by lightning
Four people sheltering under a tree in Sydney's Botanic Gardens as the wild storms hit are now in a stable condition in hospital after sustaining burn injuries when lightning struck the tree they were under.
The quartet, aged from teens to their 30s, had been sitting under a tree in the gardens when it was hit by lightning at about 12.45pm.
Conditions easing but alerts remain in place
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) issued a severe thunderstorm alert for "parts of Mid North Coast, Hunter, North West Slopes and Plains, Northern Tablelands, Central Tablelands and Central West Slopes and Plains Forecast Districts" earlier on Monday. While conditions have eased, they said heavy rainfall from the storms could still lead to flash flooding in warning areas "over the next several hours".
Weatherzone’s Total Lightning Network detected approximately 210,000 lightning strikes within a 200km radius of Newcastle between 5am and 11am AEDT.
with AAP
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