Communities across New South Wales are confronting a landscape of devastation following a series of severe storms, while Queenslanders brace for a prolonged and intense heatwave, with weather officials warning of significant temperature spikes.
State of Emergency: Storm Aftermath in NSW
The clean-up operation is in full swing after powerful storms hammered NSW on Wednesday. The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) responded to a staggering nearly 2,300 calls for assistance in the 24-hour period to 5am Thursday. The Sydney suburb of Blacktown was the epicentre of the storm damage, recording more than 350 separate incidents.
Further west, the impact was even more dramatic. In the town of Nevertire, located west of Dubbo, the SES reported that entire roofs were torn from properties, including private homes and sheds. The town of Orange saw officials respond to approximately 170 storm-related jobs. A vast number of trees were felled across Sydney, western NSW, and the Central Coast, with drone footage capturing the dramatic scene of a huge gum tree crushing a car.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) recorded significant wind gusts, including 119km/h at Nobbys Head and 109km/h in both Orange and Dubbo. Similar destructive winds battered Queensland, with gusts topping 109km/h in Dalby and reaching 107km/h in Goondiwindi.
Power Grid Crippled and Ongoing Storm Threats
The storm's fury triggered a massive power crisis. Ausgrid reported that its crews worked through the night to address over 900 electrical hazards, such as fallen poles and powerlines. On Thursday morning, approximately 15,000 customers across Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast, and Singleton remained without electricity, though power had been restored to 25,000 others. The company warned that while most would be reconnected by the end of the day, some complex outages could extend into Friday.
The situation was equally severe for Endeavour Energy, which supplies western Sydney, including the hard-hit Blacktown area. The company had 322 active outages affecting more than 28,000 customers. At the storm's peak, over 61,000 customers were in the dark. Endeavour Energy is dealing with more than 750 reported electrical hazards, the highest number in a decade, and has cancelled all planned maintenance to focus on repair efforts.
The BoM has also issued a continuing warning, noting a risk of severe storms persists for parts of north-eastern NSW and much of eastern Queensland today.
Scorching Heatwave Set to Linger
As NSW recovers, Queensland and northern NSW are in the grip of a relentless heatwave. The BoM confirmed that regions are experiencing temperatures two to eight degrees Celsius above the November average. This follows multiple consecutive days of unusually warm conditions.
BoM senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury advised residents to take the heat seriously. "It is going to be difficult to manage the heat and manage the heat stress on your body," she said. "So it’s just a reminder to stay cool, stay indoors and stay hydrated as much as possible."
Unfortunately, the reprieve is not imminent. The bureau expects the heat to linger until Friday and into the early weekend, with a true cool change not anticipated until early next week. While some parts of NSW may see a slight easing of fire conditions on Thursday, the overall situation remains hot, dry, and dangerous.
