More than 55,000 homes in Sydney and the Central Coast remain without power after thunderstorms have savaged the NSW coast.
Torrential rain, damaging wind and hailstones the size of golf balls lashed Sydney and the Hunter region on Saturday afternoon bringing down trees and taking out hundreds of power lines.
Fears of tropical ‘zombie’ cyclone Owen re-forming off the Queensland coast are still a concern after wild winds and up to 200mm of torrential rain swept across the state’s far north.
Parts of Queensland’s far north were drenched overnight, with Halifax north of Townsville recording 669mm rainfall in the last 24 hours alone.
More than 55,000 properties in Sydney and the Central Coast remain without power after thunderstorms savaged the NSW coast
Torrential rain, damaging wind and hailstones the size of golf balls lashed Sydney (pictured) on Saturday afternoon bringing down trees and taking out hundreds of power lines
The SES said they’d received more than 4,600 calls, mainly for fallen trees and roof damage
Weatherzone meteorologist Lachlan Maher told Daily Mail Australia it was possible storm-like conditions could return on Sunday afternoon
Although the cyclone had settled to a tropical low by late Saturday afternoon, QFES Commissioner Katarina Carroll said heavy rainfall and flash flooding could still follow and warned residents not to be complacent.
A 50 per cent chance was given for Owen spinning back up into a cyclone in the Coral Sea off Townsville on Tuesday.
Along the NSW coast Sydney’s north was hardest hit with parts of the Parramatta and Campbelltown areas and the southern part of the Central Coast also damaged.
The SES said they’d received more than 4,600 calls, mainly for fallen trees and roof damage.
QFES Commissioner Katarina Carroll said heavy rainfall and flash flooding could still follow and warned residents not to be complacent
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for most of New South Wales’ east coast on Saturday afternoon after vicious wind gusts nearing 100km/h slammed northern parts of the state
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for most of New South Wales’ east coast on Saturday afternoon after vicious wind gusts nearing 100km/h slammed northern parts of the state at around 2pm.
By 5pm three separate thunderstorms came together to form a ‘super-cell’ storm around the greater Sydney area and Wollongong.
Weatherzone meteorologist Lachlan Maher told Daily Mail Australia it was possible storm-like conditions could return on Sunday afternoon.
‘This is quite a slow moving system coming in from western parts of the state towards the coast, so there is a chance it could return tomorrow evening.’
Hail, lightning and heavy rain was brought to Sydney by the second thunderstorm in as many days to hit the harbour city
Trees in Sydney’s north west were brought down during the storm deluge, with Castle Hill, Carlingford and Pennant Hills among those worst hit (fallen tree in West Pennant Hills pictured)
Hailstones as big as tennis balls rained down in a brief but brutal half-hour storm over the weekend
Network operators Endeavour Energy and Ausgrid said more than 750 electrical hazards needed to be repaired before supply could be restored to 56,000 homes.
‘This was a devastating storm that caused extensive damage to the electricity network,’ Endeavour Energy spokesman Peter Payne said on Sunday.
‘Many of our customers in the worst affected areas would not have seen damage like this for years.’
Ausgrid’s Jonathan Hall said the repairs could take a while.
‘Unfortunately, it’s taking time because that does involve in some places putting in new power poles and new power lines and unfortunately that type of repair takes some time,’ he told ABC.
Network operators Endeavour Energy and Ausgrid said more than 750 electrical hazards needed to be repaired before supply could be restored to 56,000 homes
Western Sydney Wanderers fans sing in the rain at the Hyundai A-League Round 8 soccer match at ANZ Stadium in NSW, Australia on Saturday
Traffic lights are also blacked out in Northmead, West Pennant Hills and Campbelltown.
Power may not be restored to some intersections until Sunday afternoon, Transport for NSW said.
Trains across Sydney were back to normal service on Sunday morning after crews worked ‘extremely hard overnight to recover from the storm damage,’ a TfNSW spokeswoman said.
Sunday’s weather is expected to remain overcast with a high chance of further showers and a risk of an afternoon thunderstorm.