by Holly Tregenza for ABC
Lightning seen from Anzac Memorial Bridge on 15 January 2025 in Newcastle, Australia. Photo: Getty Images / Roni Bintang
NSW State Emergency Service (SES) has received more than 2250 calls for assistance and responded to more than 1800 incidents as severe weather battered the state overnight.
Severe thunderstorm cells hit across Sydney and parts of the state's north-east, north-west and central west Thursday morning, including Newcastle and Wollongong.
Energy provider Ausgrid said the storm was the biggest to hit Sydney in several years.
More than 140,000 homes have been without power at some point in the last 24 hours.
There remains 100,000 homes without power on the Ausgrid network, which encompasses Sydney and the Hunter Valley.
A house with a roof blown off after storms in Aberdeen in the Upper Hunter. Photo: ABC News / Amelia Bernasconi
The worst impacted are in Northern Sydney around Hornsby, Epping and Berowra as well as in Newcastle Coastal areas.
Spokesperson Junayd Hollis said additional maintenance crews were working to restore power.
"This is definitely the biggest storm that we've seen come through Sydney in probably a few years," he said.
Photo: ABC/Ausgrid
"Right now we're tracking more than 560 different hazards across the network, getting eyes on them, understanding what repairs are required and at that stage we'll know better in each case how long it's going to take to get those repairs done [and we] can get people restored."
A man in his 80s died in Cowra in the state's west after a tree fell on his car, while four others were injured in Bomen, near Wagga Wagga.
Sydney airport saw winds of over 100 kilometres an hour, and parts of western New South Wales topped 120km/h.
Photo: ABC Central West: Murray McCloskey
The wild weather also caused further chaos on the embattled Sydney Trains network, with several stations without power.
The clean-up will now begin, with a large amount of damage and widespread power outages persisting after trees toppled powerlines and damaged property.
In the central west town of Mudgee, a house was burned down after the storm downed a power line. No one was injured.
-ABC
