NSW towns pick up pieces after fatal storms lash state
Almost 100,000 NSW homes and businesses have been warned their electricity may not be turned back on until Sunday after Wednesday night’s storms caused blackouts along the east coast.
NSW
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Nearly 24 hours after huge storms smashed the east coast, there are still almost 100,000 homes and businesses without power across NSW, with some being warned their electricity may not be switched back on until Sunday.
The state’s largest provider, Ausgrid, reported about 72,000 “sites” still affected on Thursday afternoon.
Ausgrid crews had already restored power to more than 66,000 homes and businesses.
Northern Sydney, the Hunter and Newcastle regions were the hardest hit areas.
An Ausgrid spokeswoman said about 90 per cent of the outages occurred on Wednesday night as a result of lightning strikes, with more than 300,000 strikes reported across the state.
“This has been further exacerbated by high winds, falling trees and continuing bad weather, which has made access to sites a significant challenge,” the spokeswoman said.
“Significant telecommunication outages in the Hunter are also hindering efforts to understand the exact extent of the impact.
“Ausgrid resources, including drones, have been brought into the hardest hit regions to conduct reconnaissance, allowing crews to then prioritise work to restore power to as many customers as quickly as possible.”
Endeavour Energy, which covers an area including western Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, the Illawarra and the Hawkesbury, said there were still 15,000 customers without power at 4pm on Thursday.
And Essential Energy, which covers large parts of rural and remote NSW, reported having 9660 customers still in the dark.
Severe storms tore through NSW on Wednesday night.
The State Emergency Service received more than 1000 calls for assistance statewide, with more than 400 coming from Sydney and surrounding areas.
An Ausgrid spokeswoman said about 90 per cent of the outages occurred on Wednesday night as a result of lightning strikes, with more than 300,000 strikes reported across the state.
“This has been further exacerbated by high winds, falling trees and continuing bad weather, which has made access to sites a significant challenge,” the spokeswoman said.
“Significant telecommunication outages in the Hunter are also hindering efforts to understand the exact extent of the impact.
“Ausgrid resources, including drones have been brought into the hardest hit regions to conduct reconnaissance, allowing crews to then prioritise work to restore power to as many customers as quickly as possible.”
By Thursday evening, Ausgrid crews had restored power to more than 66,000 customers.
Fire and Rescue Acting Superintendent Aaron Ross reported that lightning strikes sparked house fires in several Sydney suburbs.
“Houses have been struck by lightning resulting in fires in Blacktown, Burwood Heights, Artarmon, Erskine Park, Chester Hill, and Waterloo,” he said.
Strong winds added to the chaos, with gusts of up to 100 km/h recorded at Sydney Airport.
Dramatic footage from Elbourne Wines in the Hunter region resembles a scene straight out of Twister.
The wild weather ravaged the vineyard, hurling chairs, umbrellas, marquees, and branches into the air as lightning illuminated the sky.
Well that’s one way to power up the lights at @SydShowground@sydolympicpark !
— E (@e13531) January 15, 2025
Lightning struck a light tower and the lights came on! #SydneyStorm#Sydney#Stormpic.twitter.com/TF1Bnj7hC0
Fierce wind and driving rain tore through the grounds, creating a chaotic and unforgettable spectacle.
“Unbelievable scenes at the vineyard here with plenty of gale force winds and lightning, we’ll inspect the damage in the morning but thankfully very little hail on the vineyards so close to picking (season),” the owners wrote.
At least 238 calls for assistance were made across the Sydney basin in the three hours to 9pm on Wednesday night.
SES intelligence and warnings officer David Pedersen said most calls were for trees down and leaking roofs, although there had been multiple reports of roofs being blown off buildings in the Hawkesbury area.
Dr Pedersen said there had been 943 calls for assistance across NSW from midnight to 9pm on Wednesday.
The worst area hit was around Wagga Wagga, where crews had been called to 186 jobs.
These included destructive winds across towns like Bomen, in the Riverina, where shipping containers had been blown over.
There has not been any reported flood rescues.
In Sydney’s inner west, spectacular video from Leichhardt showed repeated flashes of lightning just seconds apart.
“There’s been constant lightning for at least 20 minutes,” a resident told The Daily Telegraph. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Meanwhile, a set of stairs at Town Hall Station, the scene of earlier train chaos, looked more like a waterfall, with a picture posted on Instagram showing rain surging down steps to be met with multiple “wet floor” signs.
Large parts of NSW were lashed by winds of up to 120km/h, prompting authorities to issue flood warnings for several areas.
The wild weather had earlier turned deadly in Cowra, where a motorist, believed to be in his 80s, died when a tree fell on his car as he drove along Lachlan Valley Way about 3.50pm.
The death followed the State Emergency Service reporting multiple people had been injured when powerful winds flipped the demountable huts they were camping in at Bomen, in the Riverina.
Elsewhere, a roof was ripped completely off at Culcairn and a number of trees crashed onto vehicles at Tarcutta.
A wall of powerful storms tore through most of western NSW and onto the east coast during the afternoon, with 120km/h winds recorded at Trangie, just west of Dubbo, at 4.30pm.
Winds exceeding 100km/h were also recorded at Dubbo, Mullion, Bombala, Cowra, Walgett, Cabramurra and Wagga.
Some 31mm of rain smashed Araluen, on the south coast, in just 30 minutes while 30mm hit Bowning, on the south west slopes, during the same period.
The weather prompted the SES to warn holidaymakers camping near rivers and creeks on the Central Coast, Mid North Coast and North Coast to prepare for severe weather.
Most of the incidents were wind-related, such as fallen trees and powerlines.
The storm also hammered suburbs in Sydney’s northwest where fierce winds blew off the roof of four attached townhouses at Charles St in Carlingford while occupants were home.
Parramatta SES controller Tim Dykes said the roof blew off into the neighbour’s property, forcing residents of the double-storey townhouses to evacuate and be placed into emergency accommodation.
Tim Chen was home with his wife, nine-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter when they heard a “big bang”.
“I just heard this big crash hitting something,” he said as he inspected the damage on Thursday afternoon. It was the worst sound.”
The family was forced to sleep in their car but will be put up in accommodation at a nearby apartment until their home can be reoccupied.
His next door neighbour, Lin Wang, said her sons aged four and eight and her elderly parents were terrified when the storm unleashed.
Beecroft Rd at Epping remains closed after a large gum tree fell onto power lines and crashed on the road last night, avoiding drivers.
Mr Dykes said about 40 volunteers have responded to 80 requests for assistance, primarily in the Epping and Carlingford area since Wednesday night, including a dozen jobs between 10.15am and 10.45am.
“There was significant damage from a severe wind event that has damaged and broken a number of trees, causing significant damage to houses and infrastructure,’’ he said.
Power was out for several hours, with some residents such as Epping’s Lorraine Wearne still forced to use lamps when a blackout hit at 1am.
“There was lightning striking less than a couple of hundred metres away and the whole house was moving – and it went on for an hour and a half,’’ she said.
“I’ve now got no downstairs lights.
“There are lots of branches everywhere but it’s too wet to get outside and clean up branches.’’
Parramatta councillor and Epping resident Cameron MacLean said power was restored in his home at 2am but outages had hit 16,900 residents in the area.
“There weren’t many lights on in all of Epping yesterday,’’ he said.
Mr Dykes urged the public to call 132 500 for assistance and not wait before it became “quiet”
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Originally published as NSW towns pick up pieces after fatal storms lash state
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