Lightning puts teacher in hospital

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.

Adelaide Now

Hmm did not hear about this i think i need to ask you is this in the paper or the tv news?
is just a said thing lightning can look nice but some time be harmful.

Hi Chris, I read about it on http://www.news.com.au/ but also saw it on news reports, I am surprised that you didn't hear anything about it as it was a lead story across Australia

Does this one have anything to do with the tornado reported in a place called Lismore at all? We saw this on the BBC news a few days ago.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.as...ryid=76905

Quote:LISMORE, AUSTRALIA -- A tornado hit near the Australian town of Lismore on Friday and knocked out a power station and damaged a church.
The tornado was part of a large storm system in Northern New South Wales.

A man driving near the town saw the tornado and captured the twister on videotape as it moved across the horizon behind a stand of trees.

When the twister hits the substation, the transformer sparks - then explodes.

The storm also dumped golf ball-sized hail after the tornado passed by.