A bushfire in Armidale / Pic: Twitter - Rural Fire Service Source: The Daily Telegraph
STRONG winds battered Sydney yesterday as another cold front rolled across the state, cutting power supplies, threatening to spread bushfires and bringing down trees.
Gusts of up to 102km/h were recorded at Wattamolla in the Royal National Park in Sydney's south, with reports of hailstorms in inner city Newtown and Wollstonecraft on the lower North Shore.
More than 8000 homes were left without electricity in parts of Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle after a fallen tree brought down power lines about 4pm as winds gusted up to 80km/h.
An Ausgrid spokesman said crews restored power to most homes by 6pm, but about 1000 homes in Ourimbah and 4000 around in Newcastle were without power at 7pm.The SES responded to 129 calls for help by 7pm - mostly for fallen trees and damaged roofs - as winds blew up to 85km/h in parts of the state.
On the mid-north coast, a man was rushed to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital with head lacerations and possible fractures after crashing his boat on the Myall River about 5.15pm.NSW Rural Fire Service spokeswoman Bridie O'Connor said firefighters were last night bracing for winds of up to 60km/h that would challenge efforts to contain a 30,000ha bushfire in the Macleay River region. About 52 firefighters were yesterday battling the blaze, the result of two separate fires that combined on Saturday.
Ms O'Connor said homes were not under immediate threat but that could change as the wind picked up. About 98 bushfires burned across the state yesterday, up from 95 on Sunday.The Weather Channel presenter Kenny Heatley said a strong southerly change moving up the NSW coast was driving the strong winds.
"We had a trough move north as a high pressure cell sending in strong south westerly wind into the NSW coast," he said. "There were peak gusts of 83km/h at Sydney Airport and 102km/h at Wattamolla in the Royal National Park. What we're expecting is the wind to ease for Sydney and the south coast over the next 24 hours."
He said the weather is expected to warm up today until Thursday, before another "strong burst of southerly winds" hits again on Friday.
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