Almost 20,000 lightning strikes hit the region during a ferocious storm that left a man in hospital after being stuck.
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The Albion Park man aged in his 50s was struck by a bolt of lightning just after 5pm on Monday, August 28 and rushed to Shellharbour Hospital.
He received injuries to both his arms, but was released later than night in a stable condition.
During the storm, 16,204 lightning strikes were recorded within 40 kilometres of Nowra (this reaches as far north as Kiama), with 1828 of those hitting the ground.
"It's quite a significant one, especially for this time of year and especially outside storm season [runs from late spring to early autumn]," Weatherzone meteorologist Angus Konta said.
A further 3235 strikes were recorded within 20kms of the Albion Park weather station, with 665 hitting the ground.
"It's pretty impressive," Mr Konta said. "It's quite a bit for such a small area and a lot of them seem to be centred in the storm that went through Albion Park to Port Kembla."
The storm was expected and the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning at 3.14pm, but cancelled it within the hour as thunder and lightning continued to strike the region.
"We weren't expecting it to be as widespread as it was. We thought it would be more isolated," Mr Konta said.
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