Lightning kills golfer in Australia
A powerful summer storm has ripped across eastern Australia, dumping large hailstones, causing minor flooding and killing one golfer in a lightning strike.
The 65-year-old man died and his two companions suffered serious injuries on Thursday when they were struck by a bolt of lightning at Hawks Nest, north of Sydney, said ambulance spokeswoman Louise Whatman.
The storm passed quickly but was intense, darkening afternoon skies in Sydney enough that street lights came on. Squash ball-sized hailstones pummelled down and a deluge caused drains to back up and low-level flooding in some places.
Thunderstorms are relatively common in Sydney in the early part of the Southern Hemisphere summer, which starts in December.