Extended Heatwave Grips Eastern Australia
Weather officials have issued urgent warnings as Queensland and northern New South Wales face continued extreme heat, with temperatures expected to remain two to eight degrees Celsius above November averages until early next week. The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed the prolonged heatwave conditions would create challenging circumstances for residents across both states.
Miriam Bradbury, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, emphasised the seriousness of the situation during a Thursday briefing. "It is going to be difficult to manage the heat and manage the heat stress on your body," she stated. "So it's just a reminder to stay cool, stay indoors and stay hydrated as much as possible."
The meteorologist confirmed that the heat would persist through Friday and into the weekend, with proper cooling not anticipated until the beginning of the following week.
Storm Aftermath: Widespread Damage and Power Outages
Meanwhile, recovery efforts continue across New South Wales after severe storms battered the region on Wednesday. The extreme weather event resulted in one fatality and triggered nearly 2,300 calls for assistance to the NSW State Emergency Service within a 24-hour period ending at 5am Thursday.
The Sydney suburb of Blacktown emerged as the most affected area, recording more than 350 storm-related incidents. Regional centres also suffered significant damage, with Orange responding to approximately 170 incidents and the town of Nevertire, west of Dubbo, reporting entire roofs being blown off both residential properties and sheds.
The storms brought down numerous trees across Sydney, western NSW and the Central Coast, while powerful wind gusts were recorded throughout the state. Measurements included 119km/h at Nobbys Head and 109km/h in both Orange and Dubbo. Queensland experienced similar conditions, with Dalby recording 109km/h gusts and Goondiwindi reaching 107km/h.
Power Restoration Efforts Underway
Energy providers are working extensively to restore electricity to thousands of affected customers. Ausgrid reported that approximately 15,000 customers remained without power on Thursday morning across Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast and Singleton, though crews had already restored power to 25,000 others.
"Crews worked through the night to respond to over 900 electrical hazards reported by emergency services and customers," an Ausgrid statement confirmed. The company acknowledged that while most customers should have power restored by today, some outages might extend into Friday due to extensive damage and access challenges.
Endeavour Energy, serving western Sydney areas including Blacktown, faced even more significant challenges with 322 active outages affecting over 28,000 customers. The company described the storm as "short but intense," with winds exceeding 100km/h leaving more than 61,000 customers without power at the peak of the disruption.
The utility company has taken extraordinary measures, cancelling all planned maintenance and redeploying crews from the South Coast to assist with what they described as the highest number of reported electrical hazards in the past decade.
Weather officials continue to monitor conditions, noting that while some parts of NSW might experience slight improvement in fire conditions today, the overall situation remains hot, dry and dangerous. The risk of severe storms persists for north-eastern NSW and much of eastern Queensland districts.
