Maroubra home is struck by lightning as wild weather warning is issued for Australia’s east coast: ‘The loudest bang I’ve ever heard’

More than 10,000 lightning strikes devastated Sydney in just two hours, with one hitting a house in Maroubra.

Terrified residents were in the eastern suburb unit block when their roof was hit and moments later, neighbors across the street yelled at them from the street below the building that was on fire.

“It was the biggest bang I’ve ever heard in my life, it scared me to death,” said a local resident.

In the end, the fire brigade extinguished the fire; there were no injuries.

It comes as Australians in three states have been warned to be on high alert as thunderstorms and hail threaten to cause major damage.

The broad system ravaged NSW, south-east Queensland and northern Victoria on Wednesday, with stormy activity likely to continue through Thursday.

Although the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has withdrawn a severe thunderstorm warning for NSW, meteorologist Jake Phillips urged residents to monitor the situation.

“There are quite a few districts that have been significantly impacted by storms bringing smaller hail and also some decent small rain showers,” he said.

“The storm is likely to continue for a while, so we’re asking people to keep an eye on the website in case we issue any more thunderstorm warnings.”

A severe thunderstorm warning has also been canceled for Brisbane, Moreton Bay and Somerset in Queensland.

Mr Phillips said most of the rain and ‘big hail’ fell in the northeast of the state earlier on Wednesday, but the storms are currently ravaging Sydney and Central NSW.

Terrified residents were in the Maroubra unit block when their roof was struck by lightning. Moments later, neighbors across the street were yelling at them from the street below the building that was on fire

Australians in three states have been warned to be on high alert as thunderstorms and hail threaten to cause major damage

Murwillumbah on the NSW Northern Rivers recorded some of the heaviest rainfall, with 38mm falling until 3pm.

He also said thousands of lightning strikes have been linked to the storm.

“In the last hour, for example, we have seen high lightning density from the Illawarra and Sydney, across the Central Tablelands and Central West,” he said.

While rain is expected on Thursday, most of the storm activity will remain in northeastern NSW and southeastern Queensland.

“It will be confined to the northeast and after that we don’t expect any storms for a few days, it will cool down and ironically, as we officially enter spring on Friday, Friday will probably feel cooler than it has for the past few days,” he said.

The storms have not yet affected public transport, but Sydney Trains is on alert as the storm progresses.

“We don’t have any disruptions at the moment, but our teams are monitoring the network. We will send updates as lines are affected,” Sydney Trains wrote on social media.