Earth Changes
Videos circulating on social media show the impact of the storm. The fronds of palm trees sway dangerously as an entire trash can lays on its side in the middle of a road in a residential area, blown over by the wind.
It is hard to make out what is happening in some videos, as visibility has dropped to a near-zero level.
Residents have taken shelter inside buildings as the conditions outside become increasingly hostile. In the video below, a man holds doors to a store shut as cardboard boxes and other objects tear down the street in the storm.
This footage was captured by Twitter user @Hubery07 who said it was filmed from Anne's Beach in Islamorada on Friday.
"It stayed offshore and disappeared about 15 minutes later," they told Storyful, adding that no boats were nearby.
The NWS forecasted storms could bring up to 5 inches of rain to the area through Friday afternoon. Credit: @Hubery07 via Storyful
The victims was identified as Ji Phally, 24, male, and Chheav Chhean, 28, male, residents of Bangkong village, Ampil commune, Prasat Bakong district.
Sources from Prasat Bakong district authorities and the victim's family said that the victims were killed by lightning while they were walking to catch frogs.
Rasmei News
"Today at 14H34 (local time, 20H34 GMT) the Rincón de la Vieja volcano has made a powerful eruption," said in a video Cyrill Müller, volcanologist of the Vulcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (Ovsicori) of the National University (UNA).
"The plume composed of water vapor and volcanic material reached a height of 3,000 meters above crater level," he added.
This eruption was "phreatic", and occurs when there is interaction between hot magma and water, which vaporizes and increases 1,000 times its volume in seconds, producing an explosion.
Newcastle was in the firing line for some of the worst of the storm, with large hail stones raining down over the city's centre and suburbs including Merewether, The Junction, Bar Beach and Cooks Hill.
NSW SES received an influx of calls during the storm, with 420 incidents reported.
"Over the span of 15 minutes alone, we received 45 jobs for hail and roof damage, with an additional 40 jobs waiting in the queue," the SES said.

Motorists were seen trying their luck on the waterlogged roads. Many were no match for the walls of water
Roads in parts of the country have been turned into rivers, after record hot weather on the Iberian peninsula moved to the UK, replaced by torrential rains, breaking a prolonged drought.
The floods have hit areas along the Mediterranean coast the hardest, with as much as 40 litres of rain per square metre falling in one hour in parts of Murcia yesterday.
Homes and businesses in tourist areas like Alicante have been flooded and cars swept away, with stranded people and dogs needing to be rescued.
The Emergency Coordination Center of Murcia described it as the worst weather front in history for the area, with storms wreaking havoc there as well as in Valenica and Andalusia in recent days.

The epicenter of the earthquake that occurred on May 26 at 7:03 p.m. is located in East Chiba Prefecture | GOOGLE MAPS
The magnitude 6.1 quake was centered off the east coast of Chiba Peninsula at a depth of 44.5 kilometers (28 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Strong shaking was reported in Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures, but the USGS said there was little chance of serious damage or fatalities.
Kyodo News service said no problems were reported at the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in Ibaraki.

A man narrowly escaped from a car window after driving into a sinkhole in Galveston on Tuesday, May 23.
Due to a water pipe failure, water was released into the area and formed a sinkhole near the intersection of 22nd Street and Avenue M, according to the Houston Chronicle. City officials closed off the area and municipal workers isolated the water main to prevent further damage to nearby homes and businesses.
After working in the area, they came to the conclusion that this issue was caused by a broken drain valve inside the park area.
The good news for people nearby is the water system hasn't been affected.
The bad news is this has created a scenario straight out of a movie for some.