A man is dead and tens of thousands are without power after New South Wales was hit by heavy rain, winds and lightning.
Greater Sydney and other parts of New South Wales were hit by a severe electrical storm on Wednesday, causing widespread flooding in the city centre, traffic chaos and forcing the abandonment of an A-League Women’s fixture.
Storms and rain on Thursday are expected to be less severe, but people are being asked to monitor forecasts and steer clear of danger.
A man was killed by a fallen tree in Cowra on Wednesday as a thunderstorm tore through central NSW before settling over Sydney and the coast.
Another four people were injured in Wagga Wagga when high winds ripped off the roofs of their demountable huts.
Crews worked to restore power to 95,000 customers, with more than 155,000 customers experiencing blackouts during the peak of the outages.
The electricity network company Ausgrid said approximately 90% of the outages that occurred last night across NSW were due to lightning strikes, with more than 300,000 strikes reported across the state.
The situation had been further exacerbated by high winds, falling trees and continuing bad weather.
Around 89,000 customers remained without power, with northern Sydney, the Hunter and Newcastle regions hardest hit.
Ausgrid said crews had worked through the night to restore power to 50,000 homes and businesses, and were focused on returning power to remaining customers as quickly and safely as possible.
NSW State Emergency Service crews received more than 2,250 calls and responded to more than 1,800 incidents in the 24 hours to 5am on Thursday, predominantly for fallen trees and property damage.
Dallas Burnes, a chief superintendent at the SES, said volunteers were working through about 1,100 outstanding jobs on Thursday morning, with more storms and rain predicted around the northern areas of the state.
“We are concerned, obviously there’s a lot of holidaymakers up there ... people unfamiliar with those locations might be caught out,” he told ABC TV.
“You could see some really sharp river rises there that you’re not prepared for.”
A minor flood watch has been issued for the Orara, Coffs Coast, Bellinger and Kalang river catchments, Manning and Gloucester, Myall River, Karuah River, Wollombi Brook and Lower Hunter and the Paterson and Williams rivers.
The heaviest rainfall came on the south coast, where 127mm fell at Eurobodalla and 102mm at Barlows Bay in the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday.
Severe thunderstorms will combine with a low-pressure weather system, expected to bring up to 80mm of rain until Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.
Friday will see the worst of the rain, including falls of up to 100mm predicted in some areas.
Detailed Severe Thunderstorm Warning for DAMAGING WINDS and HEAVY RAINFALL
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) January 15, 2025
For people in parts of Blue Mountains/Hawkesbury, Maitland/Cessnock, Sydney, Wollondilly/Wingecarribee and Greater Newcastle areas.
Details: https://t.co/YirEXV8NvB pic.twitter.com/7TEwljaXGu
The storm hit Sydney’s western suburbs shortly after 8pm and then moved over the CBD, flooding Town Hall station’s concourse and disrupting rail services already badly affected by the day’s industrial action.
On Wednesday night, Sydney Trains released a statement warning that there would be more delays on Thursday.
“Sydney Trains is forecasting another heavily degraded day on the network from early Thursday,” the statement said, “when passengers will again face lengthy delays, service cancellations and large service gaps as a result of over 350 bans that have been notified.”
“Passengers should also be aware that tonight’s wild storms have caused trees to fall on overhead wiring at Normanhurst and Bell, and caused power outages at Lidcombe, Cabramatta and Flemington, multiple signal/track failures at Shellharbour Junction and flooding at Town Hall, which have all had varied impacts to services.”
Roads were also badly affected with flood waters in Pyrmont blocking two lanes on the Western Distributor.
Strong winds were also a hazard with a gust of 100kmh recorded at Sydney airport.
Lightning forced Sydney FC’s A-League Women’s match against Canberra United at Leichhardt Oval to be abandoned, with the Sky Blues leading 2-0. The game was suspended in the 55th minute due to lightning in the area, amid horrific weather, and less than an hour later was abandoned altogether.
The storm caused more damage later on in the Hunter region where a gust of 120kmh was recorded at Williamtown.
New South Wales police said that at about 3.50pm on Wednesday emergency services were called to Lachlan Valley Way, Cowra, and found a man had died after a tree fell on his car. He has not been formally identified but was believed to be in his 80s.
