By Hannah Ross and Cathy Adams, ABC
A tree toppled outside a Tweed Heads childcare centre and crushed a car during the storm. Photo: ABC Gold Coast / Danielle Mahe
Wild storms in northern New South Wales this morning have left more than 25,000 households and businesses without power and several major roads blocked by fallen trees.
The State Emergency Service said it was caught off guard by the electrical storm, which hit before dawn in the Grafton area.
It moved north during the morning and caused damage in towns including Byron Bay, Cabarita and Tweed Heads.
Superintendent Scott McLennan said more than 140 calls had come in from home owners needing help.
"That number is steadily increasing as the day progresses on and that wind starts to move further offshore," he said.
Mayhem on the motorway
Transport for NSW reported numerous trees and wires down over the motorway between Brunswick Heads and Chinderah.
Brunswick Heads resident Iain Fogarty was caught in the storm as he drove to Gold Coast Airport.
"As I started heading up the highway I was immediately in the storm, which was already horizontal rain with no visibility," he said.
"I had to pull over three times when it got to heavy and couldn't see 30 metres in front of me.
"Trees down and blocking the highway in multiple spots, lightning bolts hitting the highway and right on the side of the highway.
"Absolutely crazy stuff."
Power out, car crushed
Essential Energy said it was working to restore power across the region.
The storm initially hit the Lismore, Kyogle and Casino areas and left about 4000 customers without power.
By 9.30am a further 22,000 households and businesses were cut off in Byron Bay, Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah, Ballina and surrounding areas.
At Tweed Heads, a car was crushed outside a daycare centre on Kennedy Drive at about 10am.
NSW Ambulance Service said a man sitting in the car received minor cuts, but there were no other reports of injuries.
Koonorigan resident Leigh McInnes said she had never experienced anything like the wind that hit her home north of Lismore this morning.
"It was like a cyclone," she said.
"I could just hear trees going down left, right and centre - it was pretty scary."
McInnes said two huge trees fell across Koonorigan Road, locking her into her property, but locals had been out clearing the debris.
"It just looks like a bomb's gone off," she said.
"There's litter everywhere, trees down, limbs down."
Green lightning
The Bureau of Meteorology said the storms brought winds that reached speeds of 118km/ph at Cape Byron and 100km/ph at Casino Airport.
Meteorologist Edward Medlock said the gusts were driven by an overnight upper trough and unstable conditions that would continue today and tomorrow.
People in the Ballina area saw a phenomenon known as green lightning during storm activity on Wednesday evening.
Medlock said green lightning was caused by an interaction between electricity and oxygen in the atmosphere.
He said green clouds were indicative of a lot of hail and ice in the clouds.
When lightning hits powerlines, transformers, or other electrical infrastructure, it can cause a green flash.
This morning's storms also brought widespread rainfall.
Alstonville recorded 53 millimetres of rain and small hail was reported at Lismore, East Lismore, and Jiggi.
Temperatures are expected to reach 36 to 38 degrees in the region on Friday, bringing the risk of winds above 90km/ph and possible hail.
- ABC
