Sydney heats up before damaging winds keep SES crews busy
Sydney’s hottest day so far this summer has faded away to powerful winds, which launched a gazebo perilously close to power lines in one of more than 100 incidents reported to the SES across the city.
NSW
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Sydney’s hottest day so far this summer has given way to damaging winds, which launched a gazebo perilously close to power lines in one of more than 100 incidents reported to the State Emergency Service across the city.
The service was called to 163 incidents statewide on Wednesday afternoon, as temperatures nudging 40C gave way to 80km/h winds.
In one incident, just after 3pm in Belmore, strong winds picked up a gazebo and blew it onto the roof of a nearby property, where it subsequently fell onto a balcony and almost came into contact with power lines.
The worst-affected areas included the Sutherland Shire, which had 13 incidents, while Bankstown racked a close nine.
A State Emergency Service spokesman told the Daily Telegraph the majority of callouts on Wednesday afternoon had been wind-related.
Other incidents included parts of a roof blowing off in Marrickville, while the risk of trees falling remained high heading into the evening.
The Bureau of Meteorology recorded winds of up to 70km/h in Sydney, while gusts exceeding 80km/h hit Richmond, to the northwest, at 2pm.
Those conditions followed a searing start to the day, with western Sydney experiencing a high of 39C as the city recorded a maximum temperature of 30.8C.
Thursday and Friday are set to be rainy but still warm, with maximum temperatures of 25C and 27C respectively.
The latest conditions follow a week of wild weather in Sydney that caused widespread damage and surf warnings.
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