NSW weather: Flight, power and traffic chaos as wind warning forces runway closures
Damaging wind gusts in Sydney and surrounds caused travel and power chaos on Wednesday, and despite its sunny outlook, the city felt much colder.
NSW
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Damaging westerly winds of nearly 100km/h have caused flight delays, cut power and triggered a severe weather warning for Sydney and eastern parts of the state.
Canberra, Newcastle and the Hunter regions, as well as the South Coast and parts of the Northern Tablelands are subject to the severe warning from the Bureau of Meteorology for damaging winds.
Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said NSW would experience “strong and gusty winds and scattered showers” on Wednesday following a warm and sunny Tuesday.
The top temperature for Sydney was forecast to be 16C and sunny, but the breezy conditions brought the ‘feels like’ temperature to 11C around lunchtime on Wednesday.
Young tourist Addison Domingo took care not to be blown away while enjoying the sights, as wind whipped the Harbour up to 80km/h at about 9am.
The highest recorded wind speed on Wednesday was 117km/h around 9am at Bellambi and the top reading in Sydney was at the airport where 93 km/h speeds were recorded at 8.52am.
As a result Airservices Australia has enforced single runway operations, stating the decision was “purely weather and safety-related”.
Police and the State Emergency Service were called to a property in Keira St, Wollongong, which sustained damage to its roof amid gusts approaching 100km/h.
Around 11am a tree and power lines were downed at Corrimal St in Wollongong, causing traffic delays, and in Wentworth St and Adelaide Place in Shellharbour lines were also reported down.
Power outages were also reported for the Illawarra and South Coast with Endeavour Energy stating more than 12,000 customers were affected.
Jamberoo Rural Fire Service reported they had been on callouts since 3.30am as a result of the weather.
“Lots of trees down and some have taken powerlines with them, three of which have started grass fires.”
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