SYDNEY >> A powerful summer storm has ripped across eastern Australia dumping large hailstones, causing minor flooding and killing one golfer in a lightning strike.

Ambulance spokeswoman Louise Whatman said the 65-year-old man died and his two companions suffered serious injuries Thursday afternoon when they were struck by a bolt of lighting at Hawks Nest north of Sydney.

The storm passed quickly but was intense, darkening afternoon skies in Sydney enough that street lights came on. Squash ball-sized hailstones pummeled down and a deluge caused drains to back up and low-level flooding in some places.

Thunderstorms are relatively common in Sydney in the early part of the Southern Hemisphere summer, which starts in December.