INT: Lightning Wreaks Havoc Worldwide

Australia has been the scene of a lot of lightning damage and injuries this week.

On the northern and central coasts of Australia, lightning hit train signalling equipment in Hornsby, causing commuters to experience long delays or take buses instead. On the east coast, lightning wreaked havoc in Brisbane, causing false alarms, and (along with high winds) downed trees and caused power outages to 40,000. And along the south coast, two women were struck by lightning and survived during thunderstorms which ripped a roof off of a house in Cowell. Over 25,000 lightning strikes were detected in one state, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

FILE PHOTO OF
LIGHTNING IN
AUSTRALIA

Farther north, some plane passengers in Japan had a wild ride this morning -- their plane was struck by lightning during a snowstorm, damaging the right side of the plane's nose. Fortunately, the plane landed safely and no one was injured.

Also, in South Africa, four people were killed by lightning on Friday.