Sydney weather live blog: Severe storm hits Sydney with large hail and damaging winds

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Sydney weather live blog: Severe storm hits Sydney with large hail and damaging winds

Summary

  • The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds and large hailstones the Sydney Metropolitan, Hunter, Illawarra, Central Tablelands and parts of the Mid North Coast, Southern Tablelands and North West Slopes and Plains.
  • The worst of the weather is expected to hit Sydney on Friday afternoon.

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Thanks for following our live blog through the afternoon.

The clean-up continues after thunderstorms hit Sydney, the Illawarra, Hunter and Central Coast, causing roofs to be ripped from homes, trees and branches to fall, and power lines to come down.

Buses are replacing trains on part of the Hunter and Central Coast line, after lightning strikes affected signals on the tracks, and planes had to be diverted from Sydney Airport as lightning struck.

Power is starting to come back on in some regions, but crews are expecting to work through the night to get power switched back on in the remaining areas.

More storms are expected for Sydney tomorrow afternoon, which have the potential to be as severe as today.

Read the full story here.

A line of fast-moving thunderstorms tracks over Horsley Park in Sydney's west.

A line of fast-moving thunderstorms tracks over Horsley Park in Sydney's west.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Nearly 40,000 remain without power

Power companies are performing emergency repairs as 40,000 people remain without power in parts of Sydney, the Central Coast, the Upper Hunter and the Illawarra.

Ausgrid said about 14,500 of its customers are without power in suburbs surrounding Umina, near Woy Woy on the Central Coast, with no estimated time for power to be restored.

A total of 33,000 people are affected by the outage across Ausgrid's network, including about 1700 people in Drummoyne, Five Dock, Abbotsford and Wareemba.

Endeavour Energy said 5,500 of its customers are without power, in Sydney's South West, North West, Macarthur and Hawkesbury regions, and the Illawarra.

Fairfield and Canley Vale are its worst-affected suburbs in Sydney, with blackouts to 2500 homes.

In a statement, Endeavour Energy said it had opened storm centres to co-ordinate crews to repair the "widespread damage".

"We expect repairs will continue late into tonight, however, some customers in outlying areas will unfortunately be without power until tomorrow," the statement said.

Both power companies said people should stay well away from fallen powerlines.

Fallen trees, roofs ripped off, power lines down

The SES has had a busy afternoon, responding to 311 calls around Sydney, the Central Coast and Hunter.

In Sydney, most of the storm damage was in Penrith, at Canada Bay in the inner west, in the Wollondilly area near Picton, and in the northern beaches. Wyong on the Central Coast also copped a significant amount of damage.

"We're hearing reports of damage caused by fallen trees and branches, either bringing down power lines or blocking driveways or roads," SES spokesman Phil Campbell said.

"There's around 100 cases of roof damage as well. Some homes have reasonably significant roof damage, but most damage appears to be fairly light."

A tree rests on power lines in Dural after fast-moving thunderstorms hit Sydney.

A tree rests on power lines in Dural after fast-moving thunderstorms hit Sydney.Credit: Wolter Peeters

SES volunteers were working to shore up the damaged homes ahead of further storms expected tomorrow.

One of the damaged buildings was an apartment block in Lilyfield, which had part of its roof ripped off and thrown to the ground. Power lines and trees were also brought down in the area.

Three homes in Canada Bay also suffered "some fairly significant roof damage" during the storm.

A fallen tree and debris on a street in Lilyfield.

A fallen tree and debris on a street in Lilyfield.Credit: Nine News

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Trains cancelled, some delayed

There are now no trains running between Gosford and Fassifern in Lake Macquarie after lightning strikes damaged signal equipment at Wyong.

Commuters are in for a long, soggy journey home - replacement buses are being organised, but they are not yet running.

The Transport Management Centre advised commuters to delay their trip or allow "plenty of additional travel time".

"Trains are still running between Sydney and Gosford, but are delayed due to lightning strikes damaging equipment at Cowan and Woy Woy," the TMC said.

"Passengers should listen to announcements and check indicator boards as stopping patterns may change."

Delays to buses, trains

Buses and trains on the Central Coast have been delayed because of the storms, with trains moving "very slowly" as commuters attempt to get home.

Lightning strikes damaged signal equipment at Cowan and Woy Woy, the Transport Management Centre said.

"Trains are moving very slowly through the affected areas.

"Passengers should also listen to announcements and check indicator boards as train stopping patterns may change.

"Additionally, buses travelling in the Gosford and other Central Coast areas are delayed up to 30 minutes due to the storms."

Motorists were advised to take care in intersections, as traffic lights may be blacked out or flashing yellow.

Police are directing traffic at a level crossing on Rawson Road in Woy Woy, as traffic lights at the boom gates are not working.

Flooding, downed power lines and traffic light blackouts have also affected buses in Sydney.

Wind gusts up to 95km/h

Sydney had wind gusts up to 95km/h at the height of the storm, as well as heavy rain and hail.

The strongest gust was at Horsley Park in Sydney's west, while Bellambi in the Illawarra had a gust of 90km/h.

Since 9am, Picton has had 20mm of rain, while Terrey Hills had 17mm, Appin and Holsworthy had 14mm, and Toongabbie and Parramatta had 12mm.

Most of the rest of the Sydney basin recorded several millimetres of rain.

Gabrielle Woodhouse, a Duty Forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said hail had been reported in the western suburbs and northern beaches.

"We have seen small hail at quite a number of sites, with reports of pea-sized and up to 2cm," she said.

Further showers overnight are possible, before thunderstorms move in again tomorrow afternoon from the Blue Mountains.

"At the moment we're looking as though we're going to have some storm activity again in the Sydney basin," Ms Woodhouse said.

"Most of the activity is going to be in the afternoon, so fairly similar to the thunderstorm activity we've seen today."

The large storm dumped rain on the Sir Ivan fire, near Dunedoo, which was brought under control after burning more than 54,000 hectares of land and destroying homes.

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Flights diverted

At least four flights have been diverted to other airports after storms hit Sydney Airport this afternoon.

A Qantas spokesman said two flights - heading from Melbourne and Brisbane - were diverted to Canberra, while a flight from Cairns was diverted to Brisbane. Another flight from Brisbane to Sydney was also diverted.

The planes will land, refuel, then fly back to Sydney. The airline was expecting delays of around an hour for diverted flights.

"The airport's been shut for an hour, so we expect delays as they clear the backlog," the spokesman said.

Sydney Airport posted a photo on Twitter on Friday afternoon which showed a bolt of lightning hitting the tarmac.

Although the thunderstorm warning focused on the Central Coast, storms were still impacting the north-west and northern parts of the city.

There is a chance of further thunderstorms, with continuing movement on the radar.

"It's a little bit more disorganised than the main storm, but there's still a chance of storm activity," Ms Westcott said.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for people in parts of Gosford, Wyong and Sydney.

​It says "severe thunderstorms" have been detected near Calga, Manly, Maroota, Mona Vale, Wisemans Ferry and waters off Bondi Beach.

"These thunderstorms are moving towards the east. They are forecast to affect Gosford, Woy Woy, Brooklyn, Mangrove Mountain, Terrigal and Erina by 4:45 pm and The Entrance, waters off Terrigal, Berkeley Vale and Bateau Bay by 5:15 pm," the warning says.

"Damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely."

A general severe thunderstorm warning remains current for a large part of the state, including the Mid North Coast, Hunter, Metropolitan, Illawarra, Central Tablelands, Northern Rivers, Southern Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains, Central West Slopes and Plains, Upper Western and Northern Tablelands districts.

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Storms cut power to 4200 people

More than 4000 people have lost power as thunderstorms move over Sydney.

Endeavour Energy says "lightning and heavy rain associated with the storm" has caused "outages" in Sydney's west, north west and the Illawarra.

Emergency crews are working to restore power, which is out in:

  • Macarthur: More than 1400 customers in parts of Raby, Kearns, St Andrews and Minto
  • Penrith: 1100 people without power in parts of Mulgoa and Wallacia
  • North West Sydney: 800 customers across Annangrove, Kenthurst and Rouse Hill
  • Illawarra: 500 customers in Austinmer and Thirroul.

The power company advised everyone to stay clear of fallen powerlines.

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