Six Australians have been hit by lightning as severe storms sweep up the country's east coast, with the southern city of Melbourne battered by the worst thunderstorm in a century.
Five sightseers in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney were hit by lightning, suffering varying degrees of burns, while a golfer in Melbourne was struck in the head on Wednesday as he took shelter under a tree and was in serious condition in hospital, ambulance workers said.
"There were a lot of people in the vicinity as it happened, and a lot of people taking shelter, so there's a lot of very shocked people," said Geoff Head, president of Melbourne's Seymour Golf Club.
Fireman in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, used boats to rescue people stranded on top of cars and roofs as flash floods raced through large parts of the city when the storm struck.
More than 100 mm (four inches) of rain was recorded in two hours in some Melbourne suburbs in the early hours of Wednesday. Severe hail storms damaged cars, uprooted trees and flooded homes.
"This is a once in a 100 year event," Melbourne Weather Bureau forecaster Dean Stewart told reporters.
The Victorian State Emergency Service responded to more than 1,000 calls for help. Under one city bridge, 10 people were forced onto the top of their cars as chest-high water cascaded past.
"We've got a lot of flooding, we've got trees coming down and we've got a lot of houses flooded and ceilings collapsed," emergency services officer Danny May said.
Severe thunderstorms swept up the eastern Australian seaboard, hitting Sydney with heavy rain and lightning.
"At this stage, the rain, while it has been very heavy, has not appeared to have caused any significant damage," said Sydney emergency services spokesman, Rick Stone