They say lightning never strikes twice - but what about three times, which is what happened here in the Illawarra in the past year?
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Among the Mercury's best read stories were three stories about people being struck by lightning, starting with one of Australia Day, when a young boy was hit by a "bolt from the blue" at Barrack Point.
The victim was swimming at Little Lake about 5.20pm on the public holiday when he was struck by a lone lightning strike causing his heart to go into cardiac arrest and his breathing to stop.
The boy's father pulled him from the water, and bystanders ran to help, with lifeguards and an off-duty doctor doing mouth-to-mouth breaths and compressions until they were able to get a defibrillator to help restart his heart.
On bystander recalled a motionless little figure and a telltale web of purple bruising on his body.
Amazingly paramedics arrived within minutes of the lightning strike - and transported him by road to Westmead when the rescue helicopter was unable to be used to transport the boy because of the ongoing electrical storm - and he recovered.
Seven months later, there were two people who had terrifying experiences of being hit by lightning when almost 20,000 lightning bolts were recorded during a wild afternoon storm.
Albion Park man Darren McBride was clearing his overflowing gutters during the storm, climbing a metal stepladder and leaning on his Colorbond boundary fence - which was hit by lightning.
"A lightning bolt landed really close and I got an electric shock between the house and the fence," Mr McBride said.
"It lit up the whole area."
The pain was excruciating and instant and his arms and fingers went limp, with fern patterned burn marks going up his arm.
However, he joked he had his trusty rubber "safety thongs" on, and was able to walk down off the ladder to call triple-zero. He was discharged from hospital after several hours.
That same afternoon, Nicole Withers had been visiting her mother in Windang when she saw storm clouds threatening and made for her Southern Highlands home.
She got caught in traffic on the Oak Flats interchange as the storm unleashed hell and hit her car,
Her Volkswagen Tiguan was travelling at 80km/h and was almost at the Albion Park turnoff when Ms Withers saw "a massive flash" to her left side.
"The flash was just so bright; the car went black," she said.
Ms Withers said her radio, headlights and seat warmer immediately went off, while the wipers kept going, but only for a short while.
Some of the Mercury's other most-read stories that shocked people in 2023
Two women hospitalised with internal burns after drinking margaritas at the Frat
In October, two women - including the NSW Health Minister's wife Kara Lamond - ended up in hospital with burns after being served drinks with "contaminated salt" coating the rim of the glass at the Fraternity Club in Fairy Meadow.
Ms Lamond and her female friend were served drinks rimmed with contaminated salt, receiving injuries consistent with ingesting caustic soda.
They were rushed to Wollongong Hospital after a member of the public called an ambulance.
'It was parked in the driveway': Stanwell Park family's car washes out to beach
During February's record-breaking deluge, a Stanwell Park family lost their second vehicle to flooding in a year after a blue sedan washed out to the beach.
Driving instructor Sharon Van Damme lives 300 metres away from the beach but that wasn't far enough to stop her car from being swept away by floodwaters.
"It was parked in the driveway - that's how high the water came," Ms Van Damme said.
Boy, 5, rushed to mum's aid as stranger knocked her out at Kembla Grange playground
A Dapto mum was left traumatised and blinded in one eye in October after she was allegedly punched and knocked unconscious while attending a children's birthday party at a local playground.
Carissa Edwards told the Mercury she was hit so hard, her eyeball "popped" open, leaving a full-thickness wound that will require multiple surgical procedures, none of them certain to restore her vision.
Among witnesses was Ms Edwards' five-year-old son, who attempted to wake up his lifeless mother on the playground floor.
A man was later charged and granted bail over the incident, which remains before the courts.
Man tries to board Wollongong train with 2.4m snake stuffed in Woolies bag
A 2.4 metre long snake being carried in a green Woolies shopping bag was seized from a man trying to board a Wollongong train in October.
Multiple police crews and a snake catcher were called to Wollongong train station after members of the public spotted the snake.
When Illawarra Snake Catcher Glen Peacock arrived at the station, he found the snake "sitting in its bag that was tied up and it had six police officers around it".
Rat poison slipped into Windang children's trick or treat bags
Two Windang children escaped harm after a rat bait was allegedly slipped into their trick or treat lolly bag during a neighbourhood Halloween event.
The Ratsak branded product is a lethal poison designed to kill rodents, it causes mass haemorrhaging and could easily kill a child.
Tyrell Smith, 12, and his friend also aged 12, were trick or treating in their neighbourhood on October 31 when one of their bags was laced with the poison.
Owner of dog thrown from cliff should expect a knock on the door, Police say
Police officers said they would attempt to find the owner of a bulldog found seriously injured at the base of a cliff at Mount Ousley in January.
The injured and emaciated Australian bulldog was found in an upside-down kennel at the base of an escarpment after a bushwalker heard a dog yelping while walking near Clive Bissell Drive about 8.30am.
The dog was taken to a vet, but sadly he was euthanised because of his poor condition and injuries.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
