By Perry Duffin
Extreme hot weather that cooked Sydney and NSW over the weekend triggered an estimated 600 additional emergency calls, fuelled dozens of bushfires, and may have contributed to four urgent hospitalisations at a Sydney music festival.
Thousands went without power after fierce thunderstorms and firefighters and emergency services are bracing for the temperatures to rise again through the week.
Social media photographs showing damage on the NSW Central Coast caused by thunderstorms that followed a heatwave across NSW.Credit: Facebook
The mercury rose above 40 degrees across much of the city and state on Saturday afternoon before a cool change swept through.
The southerly buster brought problems of its own – 90 kilometre an hour wind gusts that tore off roofs and downed powerlines on the Central Coast.
More than 3000 were without power on Sunday morning around The Entrance and Long Jetty but by 3pm on Sunday all but 500 households had been reconnected by Ausgrid workers, with the remainder expected to have power restored by Sunday night.
NSW Ambulance recorded a 20 per cent increase in callouts over its typical summer Saturdays. By midnight, paramedics estimated they would have responded to 600 additional calls because of “extreme heat”.
Tens of thousands flocked to Sydney’s west for multiple music events, including more than 70,000 to see the Foo Fighters at Accor Stadium. Frontman Dave Grohl reportedly doused himself in water and turned off some stage lights for a reprieve from the heat.
A handful of people were ejected from the concert for behaviour and intoxication, police said, but there were no major incidents.
Patrons at the Epik music festival, in nearby Sydney Showgrounds, were warned by organisers to hydrate in days leading up to the event. Organisers put out misting fans, water stations and repeated warnings to attendees.
Four people were rushed from the venue to hospital, NSW Health confirmed on Sunday. Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters performing on Saturday night at Accor Stadium.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Subsonic music festival’s guests on the NSW Mid North Coast fared better, with no emergency hospitalisations and no arrests, charges or injuries.
“A range of harm-reduction initiatives were in place at these festivals, including support and health promotion workers, health messaging, free chilled water, misting fans, chill-out spaces and well-equipped medical services,” a NSW Health spokesman told the Herald.
The temperature did not pass the mid-20s in Sydney on Sunday and cooler weather stretched up and down the coast. But inland, the hot and dry weather persisted. Lightning storms that swept north sparked fresh fires in the state’s interior.
The NSW Rural Fire Service woke on Sunday to 86 fires still burning, 26 of which were not contained. The organisation listed 99 fires in NSW by Sunday afternoon, most of them contained.
Total fire bans remained in place in both the Northern Riverina including towns of Griffith, Leeton and Narrandera as well as the Northern Slopes; Tamworth, Gunnedah and Liverpool Plains.
Griffith remained at a sweltering 43 degrees on Sunday and temperatures will not drop until Friday, when 33 degrees is forecast.
“While milder conditions are forecast along the coast today, hot and dry weather is persisting across the majority of inland NSW, resulting in widespread high fire danger west of the Dividing Range,” an RFS spokeswoman said.
“Our crews still have a lot of work ahead of them over coming days. We’ve seen quite a bit of a thunderstorm activity with little associated rain, leading to new ignitions by lightning, so there’s quite a bit of fire in the landscape.”
The RFS will be closely watching, particularly over the state’s centre and south-west, as temperatures increase through the week.
Metropolitan Sydney will have temperatures sit just shy of 30C until Thursday when it is expected they will reach 33C.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.