Nursing home roof ripped off as 120km/h winds hit NSW
A woman has died in damaging winds and 30 elderly residents have been evacuated from a nursing home as a series of devastating cold fronts sweep across south eastern Australia.
A woman is dead after ferocious winds brought down a large tree on her family car and 30 elderly residents have been evacuated from a nursing home as a series of cold fronts sweep across Australia’s south east.
Just after 9.30am paramedics were called to the Black Spur, north east of Melbourne to find four people trapped in a car
“We saw a very large tree come down on a family car,” SES chief officer Tim Wiebusch said.
The woman, a front-seat passenger, died at the scene. Two children were taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital while the male driver was taken to The Alfred hospital.
“One child has been airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries and the other taken to hospital by road ambulance with minor injuries,” Victoria Police said.
The effects of damaging winds were also felt in NSW with 30 elderly residents forced to evacuate from the Presbyterian Aged Care nursing home at Stockton when the building’s roof was torn off.
NSW Ambulance Inspector Joel De Zuna said the residents were “incredibly lucky to be safe and alive”.
Three ambulance crews responded to the incident within minutes as family rushed to pick up residents and others were transferred to nearby medical facilities.
“There are no injuries and no-one has been killed,” Mr De Zuna said. “This could have ended in disaster.”
Dropping temperatures and chaotic winds were also felt further inland with snow blanketing parts of the central tablelands.
Roads have been closed around Oberon and an alpine conditions alert was issued as the area slowly turned into a winter wonderland.
More than 120 domestic flights in and out of Sydney Airport had been cancelled by 3pm, with the airport down to a single runway.
The average delay for domestic flights is about an hour, and about 45 minutes for international flights.
The airport is urging travellers to contact their airline for specific information and arrive with plenty of time to spare.
“High winds in Sydney have resulted in single runway operations being implemented for Sydney airport, which alongside poor weather in Melbourne is resulting in some delays and cancellations,” a Virgin Australia spokesperson said.
A severe weather warning is in place for large sections of eastern NSW, from the Victorian border up to the Northern Tablelands — including Sydney. Gusts of more than 90km/h were recorded around Wollongong and Newcastle on Friday morning, while overnight Thredbo posted a gust of 118km/h.
Conditions are expected to ease by late Friday night but authorities are urging people to remain vigilant with the SES receiving more than 470 requests for help around NSW by 2.30pm on Friday
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Blizzards are predicted for the alpine areas of the state with winds averaging 80 to 90km/h, however peak winds of over 120km/h hour are possible. The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service are recommending people postpone travel to back county parts of the state.
Mr Ryan said that early observations in Thredbo recorded winds at over 110km/h early this morning.
Cold temperatures and ferocious winds are expected until Sunday as multiple cold fronts cross through southeastern Australia. Mr Ryan said the Bureau was expecting the wild weather.
”It’s quite a vigorous number of systems that are coming through, we’d be expecting that these winds would be a feature. With this particular system — which isn’t rare but isn’t the norm either — we’ve got a number of systems at the same time in quick succession so it feels like every day there’s a cold front.”
— with AAP
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