Freak storm smashes into NSW coastal towns
Powerful winds, hail and torrential rains blasted their way through parts of coastal NSW on Thursday afternoon.
Powerful winds, hail and torrential rains blasted through parts of coastal NSW on Thursday afternoon, as a deep low-pressure system caused power outages and property damage across dozens of towns and suburbs.
At Mount Druitt, in Sydney’s west, a Westfield shopping centre was evacuated after a store ceiling collapsed under torrential rainfall.
After emergency crews assessed damage, they said no injuries had been reported as a result of the roof collapse, adding that customers were evacuated as a precaution.
Similar scenes were observed in nearby Penrith, where hailstones hammered shops and homes, and more than 24mm of rain fell in less than half an hour.
Elsewhere in the state, severe thunderstorms pummelled Wollongong, Engadine, Lake Macquarie and Kurrajong.
Energy provider Ausgrid reported major power outages across the state’s Central Coast, including the suburbs of Blackwall, Bensville and Booker Bay, while the NSW Rural Fire Service reported hundreds of lightning strike incidents.
Earlier, flash flooding alerts were issued for the NSW-Queensland border on Thursday morning, with residents describing “tennis ball sized hail”.
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