A.R.S.E.

We had a pretty huge storm yesterday - still no electricity, by the way.

Lightning was mad, I've counted 3 hits within a couple of hundred meters (those instant crack of thunder ones). The wind was crazy. There are trees broken in half everywhere, out on Wyong road I've counted about 8 just on the left going towards bunnings (to buy a generator, finally)
The tree across the road managed to snag the wires hard enough to tilt a couple of poles a bit. There were shed roofs blown to neighbours', pool covers flying...and a bit of hail. Luckily not much. We got away without damage or harm.

Blimey.

I absolutely love the spectacle of extreme weather like you guys have, so have to remind myself that the reality of it can be utterly brutal.

There have been some beauties around Sydney over the past few days. We (about 50km south of YSU) got flooded on Friday and had hail yesterday.

Watch out today YSU, some more coming this afternoon.

Been away in Sydney, but it seems we did not get a new one.

Big kudos to all the emergency workers, though. They've cleared 3 trees from the roads around the area within a couple of hours (including the one pictured above).

I'm not sure what got all these trees. I've seen at least 10 downed around here. Most were broken in half, like the above, and they look they were healthy. Only gum trees. We've a few leafy ones, quite big ones, too, and none got damaged more than a few small limbs. I'm wondering if it was mostly lightning? Altho no fires either.

I would stay more likely wind..

Nasty storm Yep, wind is the culprit. I saw the aftermath of the big storm that hit northern Sydney in Jan 1991. Great swathes of trees through Turramurra were snapped off about 30 feet up and lots of others had fallen. The high winds had snapped them off.

http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/sevwx/9000summ.shtml

People mistakenly saw the downed and busted trees as meaning that the trees were the danger and went crazy with the chainsaws in the weeks afterwards; however, the large trees had absorbed a massive amount of the force of the storm and probably reduced the severity of property damage, compared with the damage likely if the trees weren't there.