Sydney weather as it happened: Power outages across Sydney, Central Coast as commuters told to avoid non-essential rail travel; SES issues more evacuation warnings

Thank you for joining us of our coverage of the “bomb cyclone” event that has lashed coastal NSW, bringing down trees and cutting power to thousands of homes, as a secondary low brings more damaging winds this evening and into Thursday morning. Here’s what we covered today.

• The low-pressure system remains in place off the east coast of NSW, while another surge of bad weather could be on the way when a secondary weather system swings towards coastal regions tonight, bringing more damaging winds and powerful waves.
• Winds averaging 60 to 70km/h are forecast for Sydney, as well as destructive gusts of around 90km/h, before easing on Thursday morning.
• Rains began to subside this evening, but minor to moderate flood warnings are in place for the Hawkesbury, Nepean and Shoalhaven rivers, and St George’s Basin, with another 50-100 millimetres of rain possible across the South Coast, Illawarra and Sydney.
• WaterNSW says the Warragamba Dam will probably experience a moderate spill tonight, of a volume and duration similar to recent spilling events.
• Several thousand properties remained without power, including 2000 in the Central Coast, 900 in the Hunter Region and 400 in Sydney, according to energy provider from Ausgrid, down from tens of thousands earlier in the day.
• The SES responded to more than 3400 incidents statewide. Active evacuation orders are in place for parts of Wamberal and The Entrance due to dangerous coastal erosion. Warnings for Burrill Lake and Sanctuary Point following flash flooding have been downgraded to “watch and act”.
• Sydney commuters are being told to check advice before they travel and allow extra time on Thursday morning as many services return to normal after the wild weather of the last two days brought chaos to road, ferry and rail networks.

A coastal hazard and damaging surf warning is in place in NSW from the Victorian border to the Mid North Coast as a secondary low brings more gale-force winds and powerful waves this evening and into tomorrow.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s updated warning, which spans coastal Sydney, the Illawarra, Hunter and Central Coast regions, says the system led to coastal erosion and localised damage to infrastructure.

A coastal hazard warning has been issued spanning from the Victorian border to the Mid North Coast.Credit: Bureau of Meteorology

Gale-force wind warnings are in place across most coastal areas tonight and tomorrow morning while a strong wind warning is in place for enclosed waters in Sydney Harbour.

These conditions are expected to begin easing for southern coastlines during Thursday morning and throughout NSW by the afternoon.

Damaging winds averaging 60 to 70 km/h, with peak gusts of around 90 km/h, are possible this evening throughout the low-lying areas, including eastern Sydney.

A severe weather warning is in place for parts of the Northern Tablelands, the Mid North Coast hinterland and about the Border Ranges, and with peak gusts of around 100 km/h.

Although rains have begun to ease, minor to moderate flood warnings are in place for the Hawkesbury, Nepean and Shoalhaven rivers, and St George’s Basin.

You can read the Bureau of Meteorology’s advice for NSW in full here.

A tree smashed through the fence of a Tasmanian devil sanctuary in Tomalla as the coastal low brought down powerlines and 15 large trees, blocking tracks and causing outages on the property overnight.

The wildlife conservation group Aussie Ark says the incident is the second in weeks that has destroyed their sanctuary after the May flood disaster event on the NSW Mid-North Coast.

“We’ve only just begun to recover from the last disaster, and now we’re picking up the pieces all over again,” said managing director Tim Faulkner.

Expecting hundreds of millimetres of rain, the sanctuary was instead pummelled with snow on Tuesday night, making the recovery more difficult.

Initial forecasts of the coastal low, which has battered parts of the NSW coast in the past few days, painted a different picture to what has unfolded.

Although weather is famously unpredictable, the complex low-pressure system was set to run down the east coast before diffusing in the Tasman Sea. Instead, it did a twirl and travelled back up north.

Senior Meteorologist Dean Narramore at the weather bureau says this is because the coastal low has spun around a much larger low in the south – which is set to cause more rain this afternoon – and moved north.

“This morning it went past Newcastle, and now it’s off the coast of Port Macquarie and continuing to move towards the north-east. Now, the reason for that is… this low embedded in a much larger, complex low-pressure system that sits in the Tasman Sea,” Narramore said.

“That’s how we saw the big increase in wind and rain, as it went around the southern side of this much larger complex weather system. Then this morning, it’s gone north, and then north-east on the western side of the low and is now moving back out to sea.”

Narramore says smaller lows are cropping up on the south coast within the larger low, according to satellite images from this morning, causing more wind and rain in the region.

“That’s why we’re seeing more of an increase in the wind and rain again on the south coast, before this entire system – which pretty much takes up most of the Tasman Sea – moves further away tonight into tomorrow.”

We reported earlier that WaterNSW has said Sydney’s main reservoir for water supply, the Warragamba Dam, is expected to experience a moderate spill later today. The agency’s website says the dam is currently at 98 per cent capacity.

The NSW Rural Fire Service has shared this footage from the Nepean Dam, which WaterNSW said would continue to spill today after it reached full capacity last night. Watch below.

The SES has responded to thousands of calls for assistance across the state, including performing 10 flood rescues.

More than 3400 call-outs have been made to the SES since the beginning of the storm – with 2500 calls made in the 24 hours to 2pm Wednesday.

Most of the SES call-outs have been to the Greater Sydney metro area, of which they attended 860, followed by the Northern Zone (Central Coast to Nambucca) with 824 call-outs, and the Southern East Zone (encompassing Tablelands and Snowy Mountains regions) with 742.

SES crews are still responding to storm-related incidents across the state, with NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan warning people should remain vigilant with more rain forecast today.

“Volunteers have been kept busy overnight and into today as strong wind gusts brought down trees, powerlines and damaged properties,” she said.

“We have more than 2,000 members responding to incidents, along with emergency service partners. An additional crew from ACT SES is deploying to assist in the area later today ... We urge everyone to stay well clear of fallen trees and power lines as we work to clean up the damage.”

”While conditions may be easing in some areas, we ask communities to remain vigilant. Never drive, walk or play in floodwaters.”

Sydney commuters are being advised to check advice before they travel and allow extra time tomorrow morning as many services return to normal after the wild weather of the past two days brought chaos to road, ferry and rail networks.

Speaking at 4pm, Transport for NSW Coordinator General Howard Collins told Seven News an update would be provided later tonight on disruption between St Mary’s and Penrith, where crews are working to restore service after a second tree fell, affecting T1 and Blue Mountains services.

Crews work to remove debris on a Transport NSW train between Penrith and St Mary’s today.Credit: Sam Mooy

Another tree fell in the area earlier as a train was passing, piercing the driver’s cabin but causing no injuries.

Collins said an incident when a tree fell on power lines above the train at Dora Creek would cause continued disruption on Central Coast & Newcastle (CCN) Line.

“Expect on the Central Coast heading towards Newcastle interrupted [service] between Wyong and Fassifern for the next at 48 hours,” he said. Bus services are operating between the two locations.

Collins said light rail and coastal services on the Illawarra and T4 lines were running well and were less congested after many heeded advice to avoid non-essential travel today. Ferry services have resumed normal operations after swell in the harbour eased.

“Roads – slow crawl, allow extra time,” said Collins, noting many roads remained flooded, with diversions in place. “The advice tomorrow is check before you travel – make sure these overnight condition haven’t caused any further disruption.”

Welcome to our coverage of the “bomb cyclone” event that has continued to lash coastal NSW after a night of wild weather brought down trees and cut power to thousands of homes.

Here’s what you need to know this afternoon.

• The low-pressure system is spinning off the Central Coast and tracking north-east while another surge of bad weather could be on the way when a secondary weather system swings close to the NSW coast tonight.
• At least 17,300 homes are without power in Sydney and the Central Coast after last night’s wild weather lashed the coastline.
• WaterNSW says the Warragamba Dam will probably experience a moderate spill tonight, in line with previous spilling events.
• The SES has responded to more than 3400 incidents statewide. Active evacuation orders are in place for parts of Wamberal and The Entrance due to dangerous coastal erosion, and Burrill Lake and Sanctuary Point due to flash-flooding.
• Severe weather warnings remain in place for damaging winds across much of coastal NSW after parts of Sydney recorded gusts in excess of 100km/h this morning.
• Winds averaging 60 to 70km/h are forecast for Sydney, as well as destructive gusts of around 100km/h. The rainfall forecast has eased this afternoon, and the wind is expected to ease tomorrow.

About 17,300 properties remain without power in NSW after a destructive night of weather prompted an extensive clean-up effort, reconnecting tens of thousands of homes across the state.

Energy provider Ausgrid, which has worked to restore power to more than 35,000 customers in the last 24 hours, said earlier this afternoon that 6700 were still without power across NSW.

The Hunter region was the worst affected, with 3000 people without power, the Central Coast with 2500, and 1400 in the Sydney region.

“As the wild weather continues, there could be more outages throughout the day – as well as flooding and hidden hazards, particularly around fallen or damaged trees,” Ausgrid said in a statement.

Before 4pm, Ausgrid’s website had revised the number of customers affected to about 5700. Meanwhile, Essential Energy’s website said about 3000 of its customers continued to experience power outages, while Endeavour Energy’s website showed about 8600 properties remained without power.

Angry Wamberal home owners confronted Central Coast Council’s mayor and chief executive this morning as the east coast low battered homes teetering above the sand.

At a press conference on Wednesday morning, Mayor Lawrie McKinna and chief executive David Farmer were peppered with questions from locals wanting to know why, between council and the state government, no major protection works had been allowed to proceed at Wamberal and The Entrance North.

The bases of evacuated houses between Wamberal and Terrigal beaches have been battered again today the coastal low.Credit: Dean Sewell

McKinna said plans for interim works under the NSW Reconstruction Act were presented to residents on Monday, and would need to be sent to the Reconstruction Authority for approval. He said the council is “doing our very best” but had no answer for how homes would be protected in years to come.

“We have to come up with a long-term solution very, very quick, because we can’t keep coming back here every time there’s a swell,” he said.

Farmer said the state government needed to show leadership and find a long-term solution.

Earlier in the day, Premier Chris Minns reiterated his stance against a seawall for Wamberal and said that sand replenishment would be part of the solution, but couldn’t say what steps were next.

“It’s not something you can just click your fingers and fix,” he said.