Firefighters were called to Industrial Drive Friday evening to extinguish a power pole holding high voltage lines, struck by lightning.
Intense thunderstorms struck the Lower Hunter in the early afternoon, dousing the Newcastle CBD and surrounding region with up to 30 millimetres of rain in less than half an hour.
The sudden downpour flooded footpaths and streets throughout the city, as drains overflowed, and lightning strikes peppered the skies.
Firefighters remained on the scene around 7.30pm, extinguishing the burning power pole gutted by the strike as energy technicians isolated power in the area.
The power was down for around 141 households in the Tighes Hill area as crews worked to extinguish the fire. Electricity was expected to be restored around 9.30pm.
Across town, National Park on Union Street was inundated with water, rising above the road and completely submerging large areas of the sportsgrounds.
Earlier, paramedics were called to a bus crash outside a school at Maryland. Police said three children received minor injuries and were assessed by paramedics before being reunited with their parents. Paramedics also assessed a driver, a spokesperson for the NSW Ambulance said.
