Four struck by lightning in Sydney’s botanic gardens
Four people have been taken to hospital with burns after being struck by lightning in Sydneyâs botanic gardens.
A spokesperson with NSW Ambulance said at 12.45pm today that a tree with four people standing underneath it was struck by lightning.
Multiple crews treated patients, which included a teenage male, female in her 20s and a male and female both in their 30s.
The four people were all transported to hospital in a stable condition but did âsustain some burns from the lightningâ and were being monitored for cardiac issues.
Key events
Emily Wind
Thanks for joining me on the blog today, Iâll hand you over to Rafqa Touma, who will continue to bring you the latest on the east coast storms, and other news from across the country. Take care x
Fire and Rescue NSW says crews are working to extinguish a fire in the roof space of a house in Baulkham Hills after it was struck by lightning.
BAULKHAM HILLS | #FRNSW Crews are working to extinguish a fire in the roof space after a house on Grevillea Grove was struck by lightening. @TheHillsCouncil
— Fire and Rescue NSW (@FRNSW) February 19, 2024
Further up the east coast, and a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for areas south and west of Brisbane, Queensland.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the main storm cell was currently located near Beaudesert.
At Nindooinbah Dam, 47mm was recorded in 30 minutes to 1.30pm.
â ï¸âï¸Severe Thunderstorm Warning issued for heavy rainfall for areas south & west of Brisbane. Main cell is currently located near Beaudesert, 47 mm was recorded in 30 minutes to 1:30pm at Nindooinbah Dam. Watch for flash flooding with these storms. https://t.co/FBmpsInT9o pic.twitter.com/N85FG7UZLJ
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) February 19, 2024
Hereâs some footage of the downpour across Sydney:
Heavy rains lash Sydney
Weatherzone has some data on the thunderstorm currently battering Sydney and the Hunter along the east coast.
It says a line of thunderstorms approached Sydney from the east just before midday, and by 12.30pm a new thunderstorm cell had formed directly over the CBD.
Sydneyâs Observatory Hill weather station received 8mm of rain in 10 minutes before going offline at 12:30pm, Weatherzone said.
Hersley Park picked up 18mm in the one hour ending at 1.30pm, while unofficial observations suggested rain rates reached 30mm in 15 minutes around Randwick.
Weatherzone reported the rain was so heavy that the Harbour Bridge couldnât be seen from Circular Quay, forcing people to seek shelter.
This comes as four people were taken to hospital with burns after the tree they were underneath in the Botanic Gardens was struck by lightning. We had more details on this just earlier in the blog.
Another look at the east coast storm radar â as Victorian Storm Chasers noted, itâs a good thing Taylor Swift has already landed in Sydney and beat the worst of this downpour!
Between 11am and 2pm AEDT, around 75,000 lightning strikes were detected within a 100km radius of Sydney.
And based on the loud bangs over the past half hour alone, Iâm sure this number has risen.
Hereâs a look at the weather radar of the (loud!) storm currently making its way over Sydney, and around the Hunter:
The New South Wales SES has shared this image of the east coast thunderstorms, with storm clouds rolling across Parramatta:
Four struck by lightning in Sydney’s botanic gardens
Four people have been taken to hospital with burns after being struck by lightning in Sydneyâs botanic gardens.
A spokesperson with NSW Ambulance said at 12.45pm today that a tree with four people standing underneath it was struck by lightning.
Multiple crews treated patients, which included a teenage male, female in her 20s and a male and female both in their 30s.
The four people were all transported to hospital in a stable condition but did âsustain some burns from the lightningâ and were being monitored for cardiac issues.
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) is urging residents and visitors to keep up-to-date on the latest weather warnings. Widespread heavy rain could lead to flash flooding in low-lying areas, it warned.
A severe thunderstorm warning is in place for Sydney, Blue Mountains, the Central Coast, the Hunter and Mid North Coast.
Over the next few hours, severe thunderstorms are likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding. Locations which may be affected include Taree, Newcastle, Central Coast, Sydney, Penrith, Blue Mountains and Armidale.
NSW SES assistant commissioner Sean Kearns said there is potential for isolated heavy falls of 50 to 100mm:
The NSW SES has prepositioned personnel throughout the region, and we are well-resourced to respond to any calls for assistance.
I would encourage the public to follow the advice of emergency service personnel on the ground and not to drive through floodwater.
Death of Melbourne Cup-winning horse prompts tributes
Claire Keenan
Tributes are flowing for Melbourne Cup racing horse winner Verry Elleegant, who died suddenly overnight while giving birth to her foal, who also died.
Verry Elleegantâs former trainer Chris Waller announced the news on social media on Monday. His statement read:
It is incredibly sad that we pass on the news on behalf of the ownership group that Verry Elleegant has passed away due to complications giving birth to her foal.
⦠She was in fantastic hands on a farm who did all they could for her, and we would like to thank them for their efforts which we will be forever grateful for.
Victoria Racing Club tweeted its âcondolences to ⦠all those who loved and cared for the champion mare during and after racingâ.
Verry Elleegant was a once-in-a-lifetime horse and a rare talent, winning Group 1 races from 1400m to two miles.
And Australian Turf Club wrote on X/Twitter:
We send our thoughts to her owners, carers, Chris Waller Racing, James McDonald, and all of the stable staff involved in her illustrious career. ATC will proudly honour the champion mare on 2 March at Royal Randwick.
Verry Elleegant won the 2021 Melbourne Cup and was named Australiasian Horse of the Year for 2020-21. She died in France, where she had been sent in 2022 to continue her career but later retired for breeding.
Circling back to the PMâs press conference earlier in Perth:
Journalist Dylan Caporn from the West Australian has shared an image of the signature and message written on his arm, mid-presser, by Anthony Albanese.
We had more on this earlier in the blog here, but essentially the West Australianâs front page today was calling on the PM to pledge that WAâs GST deal would be locked in.
Albanese wrote on Capornâs arm, âNo change to WA GSTâ, and also signed a copy of the newspaper. The PM had joked that Caporn should get the message tattooed.
And here is a photo of the PM in action:
looking forward to this becoming a regular fixture at press conferences
somehow I don’t think this will discourage media from playing the “rule in, rule out” game – probably quite the opposite, if you can get the PM to give out tattoo ideas at press confeences pic.twitter.com/3xXCQKusbI
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) February 19, 2024
Update on NSW severe thunderstorm warning
Here is the latest from the Bureau of Meteorology on the severe thunderstorm warning for parts of New South Wales:
The warning includes parts of Greater Newcastle, Gosford and Wyong, Sydney, Maitland and Cessnock, Wollondilly and Wingecarribee and Greater Wollongong.
Severe thunderstorms likely to produce heavy rain that may lead to flash flooding were detected near Hornsby, Parramatta and Warragamba at 1.30pm.
These thunderstorms were moving towards the north-west, the burea said, and were forecast to affect Windsor, Glenorie and Penrith by 2pm and Springwood, Richmond and Maroota by 2.30pm.
The SES has reminded people to monitor road closures and traffic conditions.
ACT told potentially asbestos-contaminated mulch sold to company there
The ACT government has been advised by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) that potentially contaminated mulch was sold to an ACT landscaping supply company, Stonehenge Beltana in Pialligo.
In a statement, the ACT government said it is working with the NSW governmentâs asbestos taskforce, and had established its own local taskforce, to identify if the territory was impacted by bonded asbestos in mulch.
The initial source of the mulch is south-west Sydney business Greenlife Resource Recovery Facility and the dates for potentially affected mulch coming to the ACT are between March and November 2023.
The ACT EPA has been advised that the mulch, marketed locally as âcottage mulchâ, was sold on to 24 companies and 27 addresses in and around Canberra.
The ACT government has acted quickly to prevent any further sale of the potentially affected mulch.
Records are held for many of the purchases, so most customers have already been contacted and informed by the retailer. Others will be contacted in the coming days as they are identified.
Greenlife has insisted it is not responsible for the contamination and that multiple rounds of testing by independent laboratories showed their mulch was free from asbestos before it was distributed to customers.
Greens senator decries feverish focus on WA boat arrivals
The Greensâ immigration spokesperson, Nick McKim, has slammed media and political panic over the arrival of more than 40 people by boat in Western Australia last week, arguing this âundermines community harmonyâ.
In a statement, McKim said sensationalist reporting and âmindless repetition of Peter Duttonâs talking points does the entire country a great disserviceâ.
There is indeed a crisis in immigration â and that is the fact that people exiled to offshore detention 11 years ago have been cut adrift by the major political parties in this country with nary a word from the media.
The psychological and physical scars borne by thousands of people are a damning testament to Australiaâs failure to uphold basic principles of humanity and international law.
This is the real crisis. Not the arrival of a tiny number of desperate people seeking our help.
McKim called for a royal commission into offshore and onshore detention and argued for the need to âhold to account those who have inflicted misery on so many desperate peopleâ.
Kate Lyons
Antoinette Lattouf loses bid for ABC correspondence over dismissal
The Fair Work Commission has rejected Antoinette Lattoufâs application for the ABC to produce documents regarding her dismissal, including correspondence from ABC chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson.
Lattouf requested the documents as part of her unlawful termination application. The journalist claims she was sacked from a casual presenting role on Sydneyâs Mornings radio program in December over her political views and her race.
Lattoufâs lawyers argued last week that the documents could provide probative evidence to the commission as it seeks to determine what happened in a meeting that resulted in the ending of Lattoufâs time at the broadcaster late last year.
The documents sought included communications between ABC employees and a barrister her team claims âagitated for Ms Lattoufâs dismissalâ and ABC employees and a journalist at the Australian, after claims the newspaper published reports of Lattoufâs dismissal within hours of her termination.
Deputy president Gerard Boyce ruled on Friday that he was not satisfied the request for the documents satisfied the relevant tests for them to be produced. Boyce wrote that he agreed with the ABCâs contention that the documents went to âthe purported subjective motives or intentions of the ABCâ and dismissed the request.
Lattoufâs team declined to comment.
The matter will continue before the Fair Work Commission next month.
Wrapping up his press conference, the prime minister argued that the opposition has âunderminedâ the message going out to the world regarding Australiaâs border stance.
Of Duttonâs commentary, Albanese labelled him a âmarketing toolâ for people smugglers and said:
Peter Dutton needs to stop acting in such an irresponsible, opportunistic way in trying to seize some short-term political advantage in a way that just does not promote Australiaâs national interest.
For all of his rhetoric over the weekend, yesterday every single one of these people was disembarked in Nauru in accordance with the governmentâs policy, in quite a great deal of contradiction from what Mr Dutton was saying yesterday and on Saturday.
If people smugglers want to take the grabs from Mr Dutton and show them to people, thatâs called a marketing tool. Peter Dutton knows he is part of a marketing tool for those people. I wonât be a part of that, nor should he.
