50,000 without power, transport restored and fire crews on alert as NSW faces dangerous heat and volatile conditions
A deadly storm system that tore across NSW has left a trail of destruction, triggering more than 2200 SES callouts, widespread power outages and transport chaos.
Clean-up operations are in full swing across NSW after a violent storm cell tore through the state, killing a 76-year-old man on the Central Coast and leaving thousands of properties without power.
More than 50,000 homes and businesses are without power after the storms toppled power lines and ripped roofs from houses.
The outages have forced 13 schools to close, including The King’s School in Parramatta, where classes were cancelled on Thursday.
While storm activity has now eased, authorities warn there is still elevated fire danger across the state. Total fire bans are in place for Greater Sydney, the Hunter, the North West and the Central Ranges.
RFS spokesman Greg Allen urged residents in those areas to make sure they have a bushfire survival plan in place.
“Have that discussion with your family about what you’ll do in these conditions, will you be leaving, where are you going, and what are you taking? Have that discussion now, before a fire is close by,” he said.
Given continuing Total Fire Ban conditions today, Endeavour Energy has its network set to avoid the risk of the network sparking bushfires. This means crews need to patrol power lines after they are repaired before they can be safely restored.
Three other public schools, Borenore, Nashdale and Spring Hill, are also non-operational on Thursday due to the outages.
Emergency crews are urging commuters to expect delays and stay updated throughout the day as teams continue clearing fallen trees and debris from roads, rail lines and footpaths.
The SES said recovery efforts will stretch on for days as fresh warnings are issued for extreme fire danger across large parts of the state.
The NSW State Emergency Service confirmed it has now fielded more than 2260 calls for assistance since the severe thunderstorms swept from the Central West to the east coast on Wednesday, bringing destructive winds and intense rainfall.
More than 800 SES volunteers have been deployed across the Central West, Hunter, North Coast, Illawarra and Sydney, with Blacktown the hardest-hit area, logging more than 350 storm-related jobs.
In Orange, crews raced between about 170 incidents, while at Nevertire entire roofs were torn off homes and sheds, with authorities warning the clean-up there will take days.
Countless trees came down across Sydney, the Central Coast and Western NSW, some crashing onto homes and roads.
Transport for NSW said rail services have returned to a normal peak timetable this morning after crews worked through the night to clear fallen trees and repair damaged power infrastructure.
The T1 Western, T5 Cumberland and Blue Mountains lines were the worst affected, with flow-on delays across the network on Wednesday.
Light rail on the L4 Westmead–Carlingford line was also restored just before 11.30pm.
Meanwhile, the NSW Rural Fire Service says 55 bush and grass fires continue burning statewide, all under control or being controlled, but rising temperatures and gusty winds have heightened the risk.
Firefighters at The Rock and Corowa continue strengthening containment lines around two significant grass fires, with water-bombing aircraft and ground crews working through the night ahead of deteriorating conditions today and into the weekend.
Fire danger ratings across NSW are extremely high, with Extreme danger and Total Fire Bans declared for the Greater Sydney Region, Greater Hunter, Central Ranges and North Western areas.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of warm, dry and windy conditions today, with coastal seabreezes developing in the afternoon.
Sydney can expect morning dust followed by a sunny afternoon, reaching 31C, with strong south-westerlies later in the day.
The fire danger rating for Sydney is Extreme today and remains High to Extreme into the weekend.
On Friday, it will be partly cloudy a with high fire danger and NE winds strengthening at 28C.
The temperature will rise to 32C on Saturday, with a slight chance of showers or an afternoon thunderstorm.
Sunday will drop back down to 27C with possible showers and thunderstorms.
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Originally published as 50,000 without power, transport restored and fire crews on alert as NSW faces dangerous heat and volatile conditions
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