Australia( 30 injured as hail hits NSW)

[Crostorm]

Emergency crews are still working to restore power to thousands of homes on the New South Wales Central Coast after severe storms yesterday.

Trees and powerlines were knocked down in Sydney, the Illawarra, Newcastle and the Central Coast and 30 people suffered minor injuries from hailstones.

Anthony O'Brien from Energy Australia says crews have been working throughout the night, but the Central Coast has been difficult to reach.

"The terrain is quite rugged, which means it's very hard to go in during the dark, so at first light they'll be able to get in there, break the back of these jobs and hopefully we'll get power back on as soon as possible," he said.

"So we do ask for people's patience, it's a trying time but our crews are working on the ground as quickly as possible to return power."

The State Emergency Service (SES) received hundreds of calls for help after hail up to seven centimetres in diameter fell in parts of Sydney's western and northern suburbs.

At the peak of the storms about 20,000 homes and businesses were without electricity.

SES spokesman David Weber says they received 900 calls for help.

"Most of the damage that the SES got calls for was from hail damage and that ranged from quite minor damage through to some significant damage," he said.

"So damage to roofs, damage to cars, also some reports from trees coming down on roofs and trees blocking roads as well.

"



http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007 ... 113844.htm

[Crostorm]

Two videos from Sydney Storm Chasers
http://www.sydneystormchasers.com/

[TexasStooge]

This tops the May 5, 1995 hailstorm in Fort Worth, TX that has injured dozens of Mayfest goers.