Australia’s wild weather continues, hammering much of the nation’s south-east with gale-force winds, while the mountains cop a November blanketing of snow, and fresh flood warnings hit rivers.
Hundreds of Sydneysiders have called for help as wild winds smash the city, as well as much of coastal NSW, the ACT, most of Victoria and eastern parts of South Australia.
In NSW, Thredbo recorded gusts of 102km/h, while Albion Park copped 81km/h and Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour recorded gusts of 78km/h, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Colac in Victoria recorded 100km/h gusts, with 98km/h felt at Essendon Airport in Melbourne.
Over the past day, NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES) received more than 270 storm-related calls for help, with at least 150 requests involving trees being blown over.
Others were for roof damage as far south as the Illawarra.
NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Sean Kearns told people to secure or move items which could be blown away, such as trampolines, and beware of parking cars under trees.
“Residents can prepare for winds by removing tree branches over buildings, and ensuring roofing is in good order,” he said.
Yesterday, roofs were blown from homes, trees flung across roads and powerlines brought down after winds of up to 100km/h battered large parts of NSW and Victoria.
In NSW, warnings remain in place for the Metropolitan, Illawarra, South Coast, Southern Tablelands, South West Slopes, Snowy Mountains, Australian Capital Territory and parts of Central Tablelands, Riverina, Hunter and Central West Slopes and Plains forecast districts.
In the Central West of the state, crews are still helping in flood stricken areas.
The Lachlan River at Condobolin peaked on Sunday at a near-record 7.59 metres, just below the predicted 7.8 metres.
International helpers from New Zealand remain at the incident control centre at Parkes, while flood rescue operators from Singapore are assisting in Deniliquin and to communities along the Lachlan River.
Today, Kearns said there were 102 warnings across the state, including 12 emergency warnings related to flooding.
“More than 1000 damage assessments have been undertaken in Forbes, where more than half have experienced some level of damage,” he said.
Two flood rescues have been carried out in the past 24 hours.
At Perisher, in the NSW Snowy Mountains, a whopping 17 centimetres of snow fell overnight – just days out from summer.
“As we wake on Monday 21st of November we are pleasantly surprised to see 17cm of fresh snow covering our resort,” a Perisher spokesperson said.
“We are only 10 days out of summer and we are experiencing sub-zero temperatures and snow.”
In Victoria, the wind warnings extend to residents in Central, East Gippsland, South West, Northern Country, North Central, North East, West and South Gippsland, Wimmera and parts of Mallee Forecast Districts.
“Damaging west to southwesterly winds averaging 50km/h to 70km/h with peak gusts up to 110km/h are likely along much of the Central and Gippsland districts today, including Melbourne,” the bureau said.
People living in affected areas have been told to secure loose items outside their homes, avoid parking under trees and to stay across weather updates.
Flooding continues in the state’s north.
Incredible aerial images show extent of Condobolin flooding
South Australia emergency
Meanwhile, more than 800 people in South Australia remained without power this morning after storms lashed the state.
The number of outages peaked at about 13,000 over the weekend after wind gusts averaging up to 80km/h felled electricity poles and damaged other infrastructure.
The outages are expected to be restored by the end of the day.
The looming flooding crisis is being worsened by a dangerous combination of conditions across the state including huge wind gusts.
Brisbane residents sizzled through a high of 34 degrees today.
The steamy conditions will linger over the state’s north state in the coming days, prompting the bureau to issue a heatwave warning.
“Maximum temperatures in the mid-30s to around 40 degrees and minimum temperatures in the mid-20s are expected over northern Queensland for much of the next week,” the bureau said.
“Heatwave conditions (will continue) increasing early in the week, easing during next weekend.”
The sweltering conditions, mixed with extreme winds, has seen the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services also issue an extreme fire danger warning for all of Brisbane, South-Eastern, and part of the North Coast region.