Strong wind gusts have felled trees and left thousands of people without power as the east coast wakes up after a third night of thunderstorms.
Wind gusts of up to 100km/h left more than 68,000 Sydney customers without power on Friday night, with 28,000 still without electricity on Saturday morning, Ausgrid said.
Another 15,000 customers are without power in Newcastle and the Hunter Regions.
The NSW State Emergency Service received 2825 calls for help on Friday night, including two flood rescues.
“Metro zone was kept extremely busy with a high volume of incidents all day,” the SES said in a statement.
“The majority of incidents were for fallen trees and damaged properties due to strong winds.”
On Friday afternoon at least two people were injured when a large fig tree in Hyde Park crashed to the ground across a footpath and onto a busy street.
Two people suffering minor injuries were transported to the nearby St Vincent’s Hospital for treatment, a NSW Ambulance spokesperson said.
Earlier in the week a man in his 80s was killed when a tree fell on his car overnight in the state’s central west.
Heavy rainfall and damaging winds are set to continue on Saturday morning but ease off in the afternoon, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Rainfalls up to 120mm could fall in alpine areas across NSW.
Hazardous surf warnings will remain in place for the Sydney and Illawarra coasts.
