NSW storms: Regional towns bombarded as vast areas of Sydney remain under power blackout

The NSW SES are continuing to field distress calls from around NSW as a mega storm front lashes the state, with regional areas now feeling the brunt.

On a day of unprecedented call-outs the entire state is on alert as lightning strikes wreak havoc and spark fires, trees fall under high winds and tens of thousands of homes are without power.

Reports of incidents began south of Wollongong at around 9pm on Wednesday night as the storm cell moved rapidly into Sydney and north to Newcastle and the mid-north coast.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued warnings of “large and powerful” surf conditions for Thursday, with high winds and rain along the entire NSW coast.

Warnings are set to continue across the weekend with non-stop rain in Sydney until at least Monday night.

“We are expecting further thunderstorms today, and we’ve also got concerns about our weather front that’s going to impact the northern part of the Mid North Coast and the north-east of the state over the next couple of days, a lot of rain coming there,” NSW SES chief superintendent Dallas Burnes told the Today show on Thursday morning.

The SES has advised people to “stay indoors” on the state’s far south coast after 63mm of rain came down in just one hour to 12.45am at Eurobodalla with further storms forecast.

Residents across Sydney are still literally in the dark as to when they may get the power back on with Ausgrid releasing an update as theor crews try to clear debris around power supplies.

“Extra emergency crews will continue working throughout the night to remove a significant amount of debris, attend to hazards to make areas safe and work to restore power as soon as possible,” Ausgrid said.

“Due to the extent of the damage and the widespread nature of this event, the majority of customers impacted are likely to be out until tomorrow at the earliest.”

Police reported a man has been been killed in the Central West of NSW amid high winds and lightning strikes that played havoc with the electricity grid in a “widespread event” according to Ausgrid’s Junayd Hollis.

A driver died after a tree fell on his vehicle in the state’s Central West on Wednesday, with emergency services called to Lachlan Valley Way, Cowra.

The man, believed to be in his 80’s was found dead at the scene with officers attached to Chifley police district establishing a crime scene and commencing an investigation into the incident.

As Sydneysiders woke to power outages, localised fires, trees down in streets and warnings to stay at home if possible the State Emergency reported more than 1200 callouts with many more expected throughout the day.

More than 143,000 properties are reportedly without power across the Hunter, northern Sydney, broader Wollongong area and more rural areas.

At about 8.30pm on Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology issued sever weather warnings for storms in Sydney that could bring flash flooding as the weather swept through Parramatta, Sydney Airport at Mascot, the CBD and the eastern suburbs.

Newcastle and the upper Hunter region braced for impact which arrived around 10pm affecting coastal and regional areas for over and hour with many houses and businesses left without power and suffering damage.

Sydney is in the grip of a crippling train strike and many traffic lights are not working due to power otages as the city grinds to a halt in the midst of a ‘perfect storm’ for commuters.

A home in Mudgee, was razed by fire after a power pole fell on it sparking a fire during the storm on Wednesday night .

“Sadly, the entire structure was destroyed,” Fire and Rescue NSW said in a statement.

“Luckily there was nobody inside of the house at the time that the incident occurred, and nobody was injured.

“The incident was brought under control just prior to midnight, with firefighters leaving shortly after.”

Flights in and out of Sydney Airport continue to be affected with winds gusting to 100km/h.