Man killed as tree falls on car, several others injured as severe storms lash large parts of NSW

Sarah Keszler
7NEWS
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A man has died, and several others injured in severe storms lashing NSW.
A man has died, and several others injured in severe storms lashing NSW. Credit: 7NEWS

One person has died, several others have been injured and more than 100,000 homes are without power after a severe thunderstorm smashed parts of New South Wales.

A man in his 80s was killed when a tree fell on his car on Lachlan Valley Way in Cowra in the state’s Central West about 3.50pm on Wednesday - which experienced wind gust speeds of 107km/h at the time, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

He is yet to be formally identified.

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Police were in attendance and had launched an investigation into the incident.

Four campers have also been injured when their shelters were destroyed in high winds at Wagga Wagga in the Riverina region in the state’s southwest.

Fallen trees blocked parts of the highway in the Riverina.
Fallen trees blocked parts of the highway in the Riverina. Credit: 7NEWS

“Destructive winds have caused damage in the state’s south,” an SES spokesperson said.

“At Bomen, in the state’s Riverina, multiple people were injured after demountable huts they were camping in flipped in high winds.

“Meanwhile, at Culcairn (in the southeast Murray Region), a roof was ripped completely off (as) destructive winds went through the area, and at Tarcutta (near Wagga) a number of trees have come down onto vehicles.”

Storm clouds seen rolling in at Hartley, NSW.
Storm clouds seen rolling in at Hartley, NSW. Credit: Chris Keszler

The storm also triggered major power outages with Endeavour Energy reporting more than 47,000 impacted customers across the Blue Mountains, Western Sydney, Illawarra and the South Coast at 10pm, and Ausgrid reporting more than 62,000.

Lightning strikes are blamed for more than 90 per cent of outages - with more expected.

Shipping containers were also reported to have been blown off trains and flights at Sydney Airport were temporarily affected.

It comes after warnings for damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall were issued on Wednesday for large parts of the state.

“An unstable airmass is combining with an upper trough to produce severe thunderstorms through various parts of the state this evening,” the Bureau of Meteorology warned.

“Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours.

“Locations which may be affected include Wollongong, Nowra, Batemans Bay, Orange, Canberra and Goulburn.”

Wind gust of up to 120km/h were recorded at Trangie at 4.31pm.

Wagga Wagga was one of the worst-hit areas, as SES responded to 175 calls for assistance.

Originally published on 7NEWS

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