By Michael Burt
Dramatic footage of a lightning strike in Mylestom has been described as ‘amazing’ by University of Melbourne climate science expert Andrew Dowdy.
The rare dashcam video captured the moment lightning struck a tree located alongisde the Mylestom walkway about 250 metres from the North Beach General store on Friday 16 January. It was viewed more than 845,000 times on the Bellingen Shire News Facebook page and put Mylestom in the media spotlight with news reports on Channel 9 and the ABC.
“It is a very impressive video of lightning connecting with the ground, including parts of a tree exploding off onto the ground,” Associate Professor Dowdy said.
“Several return strokes of the lightning can clearly be seen, with at least 3 individual bright flashes occurring.”
Mr Dowdy specialises in extreme events including lightning, bushfires, thunderstorms, tropical cyclones, and east coast lows.
“The apparent randomness of lightning always amazes me, including in this video, such as why it would strike that location rather than any of the surrounding structures like power poles or other trees nearby that can be seen in the video.”
A/Prof Dowdy said lightning can travel through concrete, with metal reinforcing acting as a conductor.
“While dry concrete is a poor conductor, its moisture content and the metal reinforcements within it allow the massive electrical energy to travel through walls and floors.”
“You are relatively safe in a car, as cars behave like a Faraday Cage, using physicist jargon. A Faraday Cage is when electric charge, such as from lightning, is distributed on the surface of a metal object in a way that causes the internal electromagnetic field to cancel out. This makes it relatively safe inside a metal object like a car or airplane.”
The situation was a little less safe at the North Beach General Store. The strike’s energy did travel around 250 metres along the concrete pathway to reach the store.
Chloe Danzey, who was working at the time, said the strike “blew up” the store’s modem.
“I was near the modem and got zapped in my leg and it felt like my ear drum popped,” Chloe said
A hospital checkup gave Chloe the all clear, and a new modem is arriving this week.
“It was pretty wild stuff and a panic moment. Its the biggest noise I’ve ever heard, and it got very smokey in the shop.”
The strike also smashed holes in the pathway. Bellingen Shire Council have undertaken temporary repairs while doing an assessment on the extent of the damage.