More than 55,000 still without power after severe storms lash SydneyAustralian Associated Press•Content is currently unavailable.More than 55,000 properties in Sydney and the Central Coast remain without power after thunderstorms savaged the NSW coast.Torrential rain, damaging wind and hailstones the size of golf balls lashed Sydney and the Hunter region on Saturday afternoon bringing down trees and taking out hundreds of power lines.Sydney’s north was hardest hit with parts of the Parramatta and Campbelltown areas and the southern part of the Central Coast also damaged.The SES said they’d received more than 4600 calls, mainly for fallen trees and roof damage.Network operators Endeavour Energy and Ausgrid said more than 750 electrical hazards needed to be repaired before supply could be restored to 56,000 homes.“This was a devastating storm that caused extensive damage to the electricity network,” Endeavour Energy spokesman Peter Payne said on Sunday in a statement.
Wild storms have lashed Sydney. Source: 7News“Many of our customers in the worst affected areas would not have seen damage like this for years.”Ausgrid’s Jonathan Hall said the repairs could take a while.“Unfortunately, it’s taking time because that does involve in some places putting in new power poles and new power lines and unfortunately that type of repair takes some time,” he told ABC.Traffic lights are also blacked out in Northmead, West Pennant Hills and Campbelltown.
Ausgrid@Ausgrid · Replying to @AusgridThis was taken by @HornsbySES and shows some of the damage in Cherrybrook from Saturday’s storms. This is why repairs in some areas are taking time. Our crews need to make sites safe, replace poles and restring powerlines where trees have come down. Thanks for your patience.
Ausgrid@Ausgrid Crews are working to restore power to 31,000 customers still without power following yesterday’s severe storms. This is an example of the damage we’re dealing with. This was taken in West Pennant Hills.
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The Suwannee River reached major flood stage near Benton, Florida, on Saturday morning.As the floodwaters drain downstream, the river is anticipated to rise to minor to moderate stages across northern Florida through at least next weekend.Residents living along larger streams and rivers in the Southeast are urged to monitor advice by local officials and take the necessary steps to protect their home and property from the advancing floodwaters. Heed any evacuation orders that are issued.Download the free AccuWeather app to stay aware of river flooding warnings.The rivers in the Southeast will be out of their banks despite the next few days featuring sunny, comfortable conditions.Aside from where the river flooding is closing roads and any instances of morning fog, the dry spell will prevent travelers from dealing with weather-related delays and give the ground a chance to slightly dry out.Dry spell Dec 15 The rain-free stretch, however, will not last long enough to allow rivers to fully return to normal levels.”Another round of rain, which could be potentially heavy, looks to return to the Southeast on Thursday or Friday,” according to Pydynowski.If heavy rain transpires, it could once again cause area creeks, streams and rivers to rise.Hurricane Florence marked the start of an unusually wet stretch of months for the Southeast.While there is still half of the month left, December average rainfall totals have already been exceeded in many locations.This includes in Wilmington, North Carolina, which measured 100 inches of rain for the entire year on Saturday morning. A total of 57.61 inches is the city’s normal annual rainfall.View image on Twitter