More than 60,000 homes and businesses were left without power and an international sailing tournament had to be cancelled after thunderstorms swept Sydney.
SailGP says a full assessment of the damage has been launched after the wild weather swept the city on Saturday evening, battering its Barangaroo event.
A Canadian F50 catamaran was picked up and thrown against a structure at the water’s edge as winds close to 50km/h buffeted the nine-boat fleet.
Fire and Rescue NSW said its officers attended the incident, helping with an evacuation of the site as paramedics tended to numerous people with minor injuries.
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Wind gusts of more than 100km/h were recorded at Sydney airport, while rugby league’s World Club Challenge between NRL side Penrith and visiting English team St Helens was briefly interrupted due to lightning strikes in the city’s outer west.
NSW SES received almost 800 calls for assistance to 5am on Sunday, almost 700 of them in Sydney, as storms erupted across Greater Sydney, the Illawarra region and the state’s central Tablelands.
Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, Hawkesbury, Auburn and Sutherland were the Sydney suburbs most in need of help, it said.
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Major energy suppliers Ausgrid and Endeavour reported more than 60,000 outages in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Illawarra and Central Coast, with crews working through the night to restore power.
Endeavour said on Sunday morning it had managed to get lights and appliances on again for more than 40,000 customers.
Fallen trees on tracks also meant delays across Sydney’s rail network on Saturday evening although services resumed around 10.30pm.
With an electrical storm bearing down on Bathurst late on Saturday afternoon, officials made the decision to move the concluding men’s race forward by 20 minutes.
It turned out to be a good call, as conditions were worsening by the minute as the race developed.
With lightning flashing nearby, storm clouds gathering overhead and the rain getting heavier, spectators were ordered to leave Mt Panorama as soon as the race finished.
The medal ceremonies were moved to an undercover venue at nearby Charles Sturt University.
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Heat intensifies in the west
Meanwhile the weather bureau has cancelled its heatwave warning for NSW and Victoria over the next three days.
The heatwave was downgraded to “low intensity”, with a cooler outlook from Sunday to Tuesday, although temperatures in the west of NSW would be in the high thirties.
Victoria experienced a cool change late Friday which is expected to remain over the three-day outlook to Tuesday.
However it’s a different story in Western Australia and South Australia where heatwaves are expected to increase in area and intensity.
Western Australia still faces extreme and severe temperatures until Tuesday with maximums in the low to mid forties, and into the high forties in the far west Pilbara.
Severe heatwave conditions are expected to increase in intensity across much of the state, expanding towards the west and south in the coming days and reaching extreme in the southeast by mid week.
Locations likely to be impacted include Eucla, Kalgoorlie, Laverton, Leinster, Leonora, Wiluna and Warburton.
South Australia can expect to peak in the low forties over the weekend, increasing to mid-forties across western and central SA early in the week.
Severe to extreme heatwave conditions are expected to increase in area and intensity there into next week.
