Thousands without power, mining operation disrupted after severe lightning storm hits Australia

Canberra, Oct 18 (IANS) Thousands of people in South Australia (SA) have been left without power after a severe lightning storm damaged power lines.

Over 130,000 lightning strikes were recorded across SA on Thursday night as the major storm swept across the state, bringing with it heavy rain and severe winds. At its most severe, between 500 and 1,000 lightning strikes were being recorded every minute, Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 20,000 households and businesses were without power as of 9 p.m. local time on Thursday night. By 6 a.m. on Friday, there were still 53 power outages affecting 5,200 customers.

Miriam Bradbury, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said on Friday that wind gusts of up to 137 km per hour were recorded in SA on Thursday.

The State Emergency Service (SES) on Thursday night issued a severe weather warning watch and act message for large parts of SA, warning people that their safety could be threatened and advising them to stay indoors and away from windows.

Local newspaper The Advertiser reported that mining giant BHP will not be able to mine from its site at Olympic Dam -- approximately 500 km north of Adelaide -- for at least five days after up to eight power line towers connected to the site were damaged by the storm.

The Olympic Dam site is one of the world's most significant deposits of copper, gold and uranium.

Conditions were forecast to ease in SA on Friday, with the storm front moving east to the state of Victoria.

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