Sydney Airport chaos as 70 flights cancelled due to winds

Up to 70 flights have been cancelled in and out of Sydney airport as strong winds buffet the runways.

A Sydney airport spokeswoman said planes were restricted to using only one runway due to the gusty conditions on Thursday.

The Bureau of Meteorology has recorded wind gusts at the airport of up to 67km/h.

It has also issued a strong wind warning for Sydney and much of the NSW coast, a day after hot and windy conditions led to a total fire ban across large swathes of the state. 

Up to 70 flights have been cancelled in and out of Sydney airport as strong winds buffet the runways. File photo

Meanwhile, authorities warned that although light rain has helped NSW firefighters gain an upper hand over several bushfires burning across the state, the threat is not over.

More than 90 fires are burning across NSW with about 30 of them out of control.

On Thursday, firefighters focused on containing the fires, which took off during an unseasonably hot Wednesday, threatening homes in the NSW Hunter region and mid-north coast.

While conditions eased overnight, the wind was forecast to pick up later on Thursday.

A Sydney airport spokeswoman said planes were restricted to using only one runway due to the gusty conditions on Thursday. File photo

A Sydney airport spokeswoman said planes were restricted to using only one runway due to the gusty conditions on Thursday. File photo

‘Once the winds pick up with it will flare the fires again. By no means out of the woods. A lot of work to be done on the fire grounds today,’ Inspector Ben Shepherd told ABC on Thursday.

He said the ground is ‘extraordinarily dry’.

More than 200 firefighters on Wednesday battled two blazes fuelled by high temperatures and winds at Black Hill and Richmond Vale in the NSW Hunter region.

The RFS continues to fight a 1700 hectare bushfire north of Tuncurry on the NSW mid-north coast and a fire south of Batemans Bay, on the south coast.

‘Light rain overnight helped but it wasn’t enough,’ NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman James Morris told AAP.

A lack of rainfall across the state was the main worrying factor for the upcoming bushfire season.

Bushfire danger ratings have been eased in many parts of NSW following a cool change, but the state’s Far North Coast, North Coast, Greater Hunter and New England regions remain a very high fire risk.

Residents across the state are being urged to use this weekend to get their properties cleaned up and bushfire-ready.

 

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