- Home
- Miscellaneous
- Over 30,000 homes without power after wild thunderstorms lash Australia's east coast
Over 30,000 Homes Without Power After Wild Thunderstorms Lash Australia's East Coast
Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published January 21, 2020 | 11:00 AM
SYDNEY, Jan. 21 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Jan, 2020 ) :A mammoth clean-up has been underway since Tuesday after freak thunderstorms lashed Australia's east overnight, leaving around 30,000 homes without power.
Rolling through Canberra in the afternoon, the monster storm system that saw golf-ball-sized hailstones batter the national capital, continued further east as the evening went on hitting large parts of New South Wales (NSW), Queensland and Victoria.
According to the NSW State Emergency Service (SES), there were more than 800 calls for assistance overnight, with most coming from Sydney's southern suburbs.
"Predominantly it was for downed trees," NSW SES Director of Operations Paul Bailey told Sky news.
"But we also had a few very serious incidents where trees had fallen on cars with people in them. Those people were rescued from those vehicles and luckily they were not terribly injured." "We also had a lot of leaking roofs because there was some significant wind associated with this storm and it did tear a few roofs off." With gusts clocked at over 100 km per hour in some parts, dramatic vision uploaded to social media showed sections of roof from the Bringelly Village Shopping Centre in Sydney's west flying through the air and smashing into traffic on a main road.
In the Blue Mountains region, two males aged 16 and 24, were struck by lightning in separate incidents.
They are both in a stable condition recovering in hospital.
Although the storm cells were extremely powerful, Bureau of Meteorology Forecaster Abrar Shabren told Xinhua that the inland troughs which caused the wild weather are actually quite common in the summer months Down Under.
"The usual weather pattern that we have at this time of the year, that's triggering these inland troughs which are developing moisture, forming convective clouds, and that's why we're seeing a lot of thunderstorm activity," he said.
Further north in Queensland, that thunderstorm activity brought a total of 44,000 lightning strikes, which left around 20,000 homes without power.
Likewise in NSW, electricity generator Ausgrid said, 14,000 homes lost power due to the strong winds, lightning and hail.
But on Tuesday morning, the company said, "less than 4,000 customers remained without power."While the storm caused a huge amount of destruction resulting in 320 million Australian Dollars (220 million U.S. dollars) worth of insurance claims according the Australian Newspaper, for some communities facing the threat of bushfires, the wet weather was a welcome sight.
In the first week of January, there were around 150 wildfires burning across the east coast, at the moment there are only 80.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Selection committee dissolved over Pakistan women cricket team's poor performanc ..
Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz in police uniform at Chung police center
Currency Rate In Pakistan - Dollar, Euro, Pound, Riyal Rates On 25 April 2024
Today Gold Rate in Pakistan 25 April 2024
Mired in crisis, Boeing reports another loss
Session Awarding Ceremony 2024 held at Cadet College Muzaffarabad
Austrian ski great Hirscher to make comeback under Dutch flag
Pakistan, Japan agrees to convene 'Economic Policy Dialogue'
FM Dar conveys deepest sympathy on torrential rains devastation in UAE
Spain PM Sanchez says weighing resignation after wife's graft probe
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 1st update
Long-lost Klimt portrait auctioned off for 30 mn euros
More Stories From Miscellaneous
-
PDMA predicts gusty wind, rain with thunder, hails
2 days ago -
Iranian president Raisi given guard of honour at PM House
3 days ago -
Intellectuals, writers accolades Naseer Mirza on his literary contribution
4 days ago -
Bahawalpur Adabi Sangat hosts memorable mushaira
4 days ago -
Cattle farming vital to alleviate poverty in rural areas
4 days ago -
Pakistan: A land of tourism, archeological wonders
4 days ago
-
Transforming education sector: from job hunters to job creators
6 days ago -
Amjad Bobby remembered on 19th death anniversary for timeless contributions to music
10 days ago -
Legendary actor Nadeem’s 26 films released on Eid-ul-Fitr days in 50 years
11 days ago -
Besant Hall Cultural Centre to celebrate evening with Sanam Marvi on 26 April
11 days ago -
Radio Bahawalpur presents program “Eidi Shidi”
14 days ago -
Radio Bahawalpur to broadcast Eid programs
16 days ago