Wild thunderstorms cause damage, blackouts across state
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are expected to be without power overnight after severe thunderstorms wreaked havoc across the state, with damaging winds bringing down trees and power lines.
NSW
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Tens of thousands of homes and businesses are expected to be without power overnight after severe thunderstorms wreaked havoc across the state, with damaging winds bringing down trees and power lines.
The NSW Bureau of Meteorology said a low pressure system was responsible for the freak storm that lashed Sydney with hail and thunder just after 4pm today.
Ausgrid reported more than 35,000 homes without power across Sydney, the Hunter and the Central Coast.
Ausgrid said it was working to restore power in the Hills district by 11pm.
Endeavour Energy reported 110,000 premises without power in north west Sydney, with suburbs including Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills and North Rocks the worst hit.
By 8.30pm, 45,000 homes and businesses were still without power.
“While crews will continue to work well into the night to return power to as many customers as possible, it is expected that many customers will be without power overnight due to extent of the storm damage,” Endeavour Energy said in a statement released at 8.30pm.
The State Emergency Service received 988 calls by 8pm, with almost one third of these (278) relating to storm damage in the Hills district.
There were also 161 calls from Parramatta, 177 from Hornsby and 130 from Campbelltown.
An SES spokesman said 150 volunteers remained at work into the evening repairing roofs and clearing debris.
“About two thirds of the calls we received related to roof damage, fallen trees and power lines. We also had reports of people with water damage because of heavy rain,” the spokesman said.
“I think the severity of the storm caught some people off guard.”
Castle Towers and Carlingford Court Shopping Centre were evacuated in the afternoon due to a blackout, causing traffic mayhem around the area.
The strongest winds recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology were in the Hunter Region, reaching at 96km/h at Murrurundi and 94km/h at Scone.
Heavy downpours on the south coast also filled rain gauges with 68mm between 5-7pm at Burrill Lake.
Roads that were affected by fallen trees include Parramatta Rd, Merrylands; Cowpasture Rd and the M2 near West Pennant Hills.
STORM WARNING:
— Ausgrid (@Ausgrid) December 15, 2018
Dangerous storms are moving across large parts of our network. Crews are responding to multiple outages across the Hunter, Central Coast, Sydney. At 5pm there are currently about 35,000 customers without power.
See power outage updates at https://t.co/zltXYk3kEU pic.twitter.com/8OiWhM46W5
The storms brought more wind than rain in some parts of the state, with Scone Airport remaining dry while recording wind speeds of up to 95km/h.
The severe storms are expected to hit Parramatta, Sydney City, Sydney Olympic Park, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Gosford, Mona Vale, Wyong, Maitland and Cessnock by 4.45pm and Sutherland, Sydney Airport, waters off Bondi Beach and Belmont by 5.15pm.
“Heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding, damaging winds and large hailstones are likely,” BoM posted on its website.
Detailed Severe #Thunderstorm Warning for the Sydney, Central Coast & Newcastle metropolitan areas. Warning issued for Destructive Winds, Heavy Rainfall and Large Hail. Keep up to date with warnings https://t.co/dRWt88uY8B #SydneyStorms pic.twitter.com/eE12JGONYg
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 15, 2018
Twitter user Curtis Woodward said: “Just got to mum’s and the worst hailstorm I’ve ever seen comes down. One window smashed, almost broke three others. Trees down. Insane few minutes #SydneyStorm.”
Another user, Brooke, said: “This is the worst storm I’ve seen in Sydney. It’s punched holes through my dads guttering, the lights are flickering, we taped the windows so they didn’t shatter and I’m scared to check my car which is parked outside.”
Earlier today, the Bureau of Meteorology had issued a severe weather warning for much of the east coast, advising residents to move their car under cover and remain at least 8m from fallen power lines.
The warning area includes Port Macquarie, Taree, Newcastle, Gosford, Armidale, Goulburn and Tamworth, with a more detailed warning to be issued should the storms move towards the CBD, Newcastle or Wollongong.
Good afternoon travellers! Pip here until late for your service updates and assistance.
— Trains Info (@TrainsInfo) December 15, 2018
We've got some storms coming through NSW this afternoon so please take care at stations.
Check out trackwork info before you travel: https://t.co/qZLvdkc7zz
The wild weather had also resulted in heavy rain across Victoria and South Australia.
The low has generated two of the key ingredients for a severe storm - moisture and wind.
As the system weakens, rainfall is expected to intensify with some locations to receive more than 150mm.
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