Wild weather has left thousands of homes and businesses without power across Sydney, with widespread outages continuing into Friday evening.
About 11,700 customers were affected during the peak of the disruption, while about 2000 Ausgrid and 1000 Endeavour Energy customers remained without power across the city, Central Coast and Hunter region later in the day.
An Ausgrid spokesman said they expected most services to be restored on Friday evening.
“A small number with complex repairs may remain without power into tomorrow,” a spokesman said.
Strong winds also triggered widespread disruption at Sydney Airport on Friday, with dozens of flights grounded and many more cancelled.
Storm-force wind warnings were issued for the Hunter, Sydney, Illawarra and Batemans coastlines, with enclosed waters around Sydney and the Macquarie Coast being warned of gale-force winds.
Passengers were warned to check with their airline before heading to the airport after 90 flights failed to take off or land on Friday morning.
“Due to storm activity, there have been some flight delays and cancellations,” a spokesman said.
“We encourage passengers to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight.”
A string of cold, wet weather engulfing Australia’s southeastern states is set to continue through Friday as temperatures stay low and coastal conditions rapidly deteriorate.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued hazardous weather warnings across huge stretches of coastal NSW that are expected to remain in place across Friday and Saturday.
The Illawarra and Batemans coastlines are expected to receive sustained storm-force winds into Saturday, while Sydney enclosed waters, the Macquarie Coast, Hunter, Sydney and Eden coasts will all simmer down to gale force.
Damaging surf is expected to begin developing around Lord Howe Island, with “large and powerful waves” exceeding 5m expected on Saturday morning.
Conditions across the NSW coast between Seal Rocks near Forster and the Victorian border are expected to build on Friday and then weaken on Saturday morning.
NSW Police Detective Chief Inspector Anthony Brazzill warned seafarers, surfers and beachgoers to stay on land this weekend.
“We’re urging anyone who planned to head out on the water to reconsider it. Strong winds and powerful surf are expected, which will put not only the public at risk but also emergency services,” Mr Brazzill said.
“While NSW Police Force have high performance resources including police boats, police divers, Polair and specialist rescue officers, severe weather will highly likely limit our ability to conduct search and rescue in some instances.
“The message is clear. Monitor the weather closely and try to stay way from the water this weekend. Our top priority is your safety.”
On the other side of the nation, wild weather hit large parts of Western Australia as Tropical Cyclone Narelle crossed the Coral Bay coastline as a severe category three system.
The Department of Fire and Emergency services warned residents in the emergency warning area to stay indoors with wind gusts up to 170km/hr expected to hit the Gascoyne region on Friday afternoon.
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jonathon How said the centre of the cyclone crossed the Gascoyne coast on Friday afternoon with wind gusts up to 200km/hr and very high rainfall.
Wind gusts more than 100km/hr were being felt further south in Carnarvon as the cyclone pushed down the coast bringing cloud and tropical moisture to the state’s southwest and Perth.
“At the moment that extends from … west of Onslow, around the coast of Jurien Bay, Exmouth, Carnarvon, Geraldton, some of the northern Wheatbelt towns through the rest of Friday and into Saturday,” he said.
“In this warning area, we can expect to see damaging to very destructive winds, heavy to intense rainfall and a dangerous storm tide with coastal flooding along parts of the Gascoyne coastline.”
The cyclone is expected to continue south down the coast as a category three system before moving east of Geraldton overnight into Saturday.
“It will very quickly weaken off and by Saturday afternoon, is expected to be a tropical low just to the east of Perth across parts of the weekend but still very heavy rain and damaging winds pushing down across the southwest land division,” Mr How said.
“With this rain still to come, we have issued a number of flood watches across western parts of WA all the way from the Gascoyne and the western Pilbara and down into the Wheatbelt.”
