Hundreds without power after storm causes chaos across the city
Updated ,first published
Severe storms ripped through Sydney, toppling trees and prompting hundreds of calls for help; Extreme weather conditions are expected to continue on Friday.
NSW SES responded to 370 incidents statewide as of 3pm on Thursday; 215 of these were in Sydney.
SES intelligence and warning officer David Pedersen said around a quarter of these calls came from the city’s northern beaches, mostly for downed trees, with no reports of flooding.
More than 1,300 Ausgrid customers were left without power on Friday morning after the storm knocked out power, mainly to the northern coast and Central Coast.
About 35mm of rain fell in 30 minutes on Campbelltown, south-west of Sydney, as clouds arrived on Thursday afternoon.
The storm flooded Four Pines Park in Brookvale, knocking out power ahead of the fourth round NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and Sydney Roosters, but the match resumed when conditions improved.
Due to the storm that occurred during rush hour, passengers faced major delays in metro and train services, while public transport experienced chaos.
Services were mostly back to normal by Friday morning.
High winds triggered a dust storm on Thursday afternoon, causing the partial collapse of a crane at a construction site in Dubbo.
Damaging waves, large strong seas and high winds are expected along the Sydney coastline, north to the Mid North Coast and south to Victoria.
“The weather event causing severe storms will continue until Friday,” said Angus Hines of the Bureau of Meteorology.
“Although the first band of wet weather… will be moving offshore, we’re not done with what’s going on yet.”
Winds could reach up to 110km/h in parts of NSW.
“This is a really strong wind, enough to knock down some trees and cause property damage,” Hines said.
Rock fishermen, boaters and swimmers have also been warned to avoid dangerous waves along the coast, which are expected to continue through the weekend.
Waves could reach five meters along the Sydney coast on Friday afternoon, while waves further south have the potential to reach up to 10 meters on Saturday.
NSW Police have urged people planning to go into the water to “rethink”, warning of high risk due to unpredictable fluctuations.
“Whilst the NSW Police Force has high-performance resources including police boats, police divers, PolAir and specialist rescue officers, severe weather conditions will likely limit our ability to conduct search and rescue in some situations,” he said.
On Thursday the waves rose quickly and surfers headed to Solander Point off Kurnell, south of Sydney, where videographer Jye Zap captured the “heavy slabs”.
A chill has set in amidst the wild weather, with temperatures expected to be below March averages across much of the state.
Sydney is heading towards a high of 21 degrees with a low of 13 degrees, but the apparent temperature is significantly lower.
It is also possible to experience “possible blizzard conditions” in the high mountain areas in the south of the state on Friday morning, but the strong low pressure system that causes severe weather to move offshore is expected to ease towards the end of the week.
It was snowing in the Midwest on Friday morning.
“We’re getting some snow mixed with rain right now, but it’s unusual to see snow this early in the year in beautiful Orange,” caller Jeff told 2GB on Friday morning.
Temperatures in Orange were just above freezing Friday morning, but the apparent — or “like” — temperature dropped to minus 6.6 degrees.
Snow was also falling at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains, but temperature data was not available from BOM.
Meanwhile, a complete fire ban is in effect in the New England and Northern Slopes regions of the state’s north due to high to extreme fire danger.
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Jack Gramenz is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
