Australia: Lightning strike hits teacher, 15 students
Pastor Dale Morgan
Australia: Lightning strike hits teacher, 15 students*
From AdelaideNow
October 23, 2007 04:37pm
Article from: The Advertiser
A TEACHER is in a serious condition and 15 students were taken to
hospital after a lightning bolt hit their school in South Australia today.
AdelaideNow understands a male teacher at Port Broughton Area School, on
SA's Yorke Peninsula west of Adelaide, was struck by a lightning bolt
during a freak electrical storm that lasted about two minutes.
Ambulance officers said the 33-year-old teacher was slipping in and out
of consciousness when they arrived.
He was taken to Port Broughton Hospital but may be airlifted to the
Royal Adelaide Hospital later today.
About 30 students were on the oval when the lightning bolt struck but
none was seriously injured.
Fifteen of them were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
Some had been touching metal when the lightning struck.
Storms
Thunderstorms caused flash flooding in parts of the state's mid-north today.
The State Emergency Service (SES) said Kadina, on Yorke Peninsula, had
been among the hardest hit with several homes and buildings swamped.
The SES also received about 20 calls for help from residents of nearby
Moonta.
Other towns battered by the storms included Crystal Brooke, Clare and
Burra with SES crews on standby in those areas.
The Bureau of Meteorology said storms were reported in an area
stretching from Oodnadatta, in the north, to as far south as Pt
Wakefield about 100km north of Adelaide.
The bureau issued a severe weather warning at 1.15pm (CST).
"Severe thunderstorms may also produce damaging winds and large
hailstones in the Flinders and northeast pastoral districts over the
next several hours," the warning said.
"Locations which may be affected include Whyalla, Port Augusta, Port
Pirie, Clare, Leigh Creek and Jamestown."
The bureau said 50mm of rain fell in 30 minutes near Crystal Brook,
forcing the evacuation of a local caravan park.
The storms were expected to move east later today and tomorrow.