Thousands without power on Sydney’s Northern Beaches after deadly storm

Thousands of Sydney residents will remain without power for the rest of the day after a deadly storm tore through the Northern Beaches.

More than 25,000 Northern Beaches homes will remain without power for the rest of Monday after a freak Sydney storm, with the clean up effort expected to take days.

Sunday’s swift and sudden “microburst” storm wrought havoc on neighbourhoods across the Northern Beaches, ripping roofs off homes, tearing down power lines and uprooting trees when it hit about 3pm.

Up to 36,000 homes were initially affected by power outages, with many left in the dark on Monday morning, along with traffic light systems.

A splintered tree trunk remains where the Norfolk pine fell, crushing three women. Picture: John Grainger

More damage … Picture: John Grainger

North West Metro Commander Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland said that police were working with power company Ausgrid to help reconnect thousands of households - but said residents may have to wait until at least Monday afternoon to turn the lights back on.

“Our biggest concern is that there are 26,000 premises still without power … Police are working with Ausgrid to make those areas safe and we expect the services to return this afternoon,” Asst Comm Holland said.

“The biggest concern is the roads in the area. The intersections have been covered with generators to allow traffic lights to work in those areas but my main concern is for drivers to have patience and respect each other this afternoon.”

Over 40 teams of State Emergency Service volunteers partnered with police, firefighters and council workers remain on the Northern Beaches today to clean up the carnage caused by the severe weather.

A car left smashed and battered at Narrabeen surf club. Picture: John Grainger

Destroyed signage in the carpark where the woman died. Picture: John Grainger

More than 550 requests for help had been lodged, with 50,000 phone calls received by the State Emergency Service.

SES Superintendent Stuart Fisher said almost a dozen households had been evacuated after having roofs torn off.

“The main damage was trees and power lines down as well as minor to moderate and major property damage. Workplaces lost roofs, places in Dee Why lost their roofs,” Supt Fisher said.

“Only a small number (of residents) have bee displaced, we’re looking at about 10 properties, mainly units at this point in time.”

He said that the huge clean up effort could take several days to complete due to the electricity outages.

“We expect to have the majority of those jobs are sorted today and tomorrow … but that is dependent on when Ausgrid can access those properties to turn the power off and make it safe for us to do our job,” Supt Fisher said.

It comes as the wild storm turned deadly at Narrabeen when a 20-metre Norfolk Pine toppled by lightning and high winds killed a 67-year-old woman and seriously injured two women, aged 19 and 71, in a car park on Ocean Rd.

Emergency services rushed the two surviving women to hospital, but the 68 year-old died at the scene. Picture: John Grainger

Both surviving women were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital, where the 19-year-old is stable with head and spinal injuries and the 71-year-old is in a critical condition with severe internal injuries.

The 67-year-old woman couldn’t be revived.

NSW Fire & Rescue Chief Superintendent Darryl Dunbar said the pine tree “snapped like a toothpick”.

“It has been a while, this area is a bit of a natural corridor, per se, for these weather events but it has been some time since we have seen it the extent of this damage … (the storm) was ferocious,” Supt Dunbar said.

NSW Ambulance Superintendent Paul Edwards said a fourth person had received minor injuries, and thanked surf lifesavers who gave initial first aid to the women at the scene.

He said a number of other “near misses” had been reported during the storm but no one else was in hospital.

“We had people hit by debris that had a lot of bruises and cuts that were assessed,” Supt Edwards said.

“The workload during this period was high, but fortunately, a lot of people had near misses, so they were minor injuries that did not require transport.”

The three women were said to be enjoying an afternoon at Narrabeen Beach were crushed when a Norfolk Island pine was felled by a freak storm on Sunday afternoon.

The two elderly women were friends.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Andrew Holland earlier told 2GB that the women, from two different groups, had been at the beach when the storm hit.

Asst Comm Holland said the pine tree had stood about 20 metres tall before it came crashing down on top of trio as they tried to flee the wild weather, crushing them.

“The group was actually on the beach, just socialising on the beach,” Asst Comm Holland said.

“The storms hit the area … it looks like gusty winds hit one of the Norfolk Island pines and snapped it off about a metre from the base, it‘s fallen into the car park itself, taking down power lines and crushed the three people involved.”

A car is destroyed during a mini-tornado which ripped through Narrabeen this afternoon. Picture: John Grainger

One woman is dead and two are seriously injured after a freak storm swept through Sydney's Northern Beaches, with trees, roofs and power poles ripped out. Picture: ABC

Asst Comm Holland said it was lucky there weren‘t more injuries following the freak storm, and that the mammoth clean up effort was just beginning.

“We‘re very lucky there weren’t more injuries actually because the power lines were down as well,” he said.

“There‘s a couple of (apartment) blocks that are being structurally checked … obviously there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Authorities said the three women were “simply in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

NSW Ambulance Inspector Christie Marks said paramedics were confronted with a tragic scene when they arrived in the car park.

“This was just a tragic scene to attend – these women were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when this storm hit,” Insp Marks said.

A storm damaged roof that flew off and landed on this apartment block near Pacific Parade at Dee Why. Picture: Damian Shaw

Emergency services clean up on Ocean Street in Narrabeen after a storm. Picture: Damian Shaw

People were hit by fallen trees in Narrabeen. Picture: John Grainger

“As you can imagine the patients had multiple injuries after being hit by falling branches and other debris.

“We worked to treat them at the scene and get them to hospital for further care.

“The strength of the storm is evident in the destruction it caused.

“Given the size of this tree it’s remarkable that there weren’t more people injured.”

A young boy also avoided being seriously injured the incident.

Witnesses said they heard screams during the chaos.

“A tree fell down at Narrabeen on Sydney’s Northern Beaches during this afternoon’s storm. My family lives across the road and heard screams. They said at least one person is dead and multiple people were injured,” David Lewis wrote online.

Thousands of Northern Beaches residents in suburbs including Collaroy, Dee Why, North Curl Curl, Narrabeen and Forestville have spent the night without power after the catastrophic weather destroyed power lines.

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Stephen Stefanac said the storm was caused by humid air and a low pressure trough that created a “very unstable situation”.

“The storm basically formed in northwestern parts of Sydney, it formed pretty quickly,” he said.

“We’ve got this low pressure trough extending from the tropics southward into NSW, this has been pushed west by a cold front … and we have humid air to the east of that … making a very unstable situation.”

Winds were recorded reaching up to 80km/h, Mr Stefanac said.

“Someone’s roof is in my driveway, all the wires have been busted down … this guy’s car got javelined,” one man said in video footage of the storm’s aftermath on Seven News.