A dramatic storm swept through Sydney late Saturday with violent winds, intense lightning and thundering rain closing a scorching day.
Power was lost to 60,000 homes and businesses, traffic lights were blacked out and transport services disrupted as trees and powerlines came down.
The dangerous storm brought a chaotic end to the SailGP after strong gusty winds, reported up to 93km/hr at Sydney Airport, battered a catamaran sail and sent it flying.
Day two of the sailing event was cancelled after the intense weather caused damage to at least one boat.
Winds of close to 50 kph buffeted the nine-boat fleet during Saturday’s racing before the storm and rain hit Sydney in the late afternoon and early evening.
SailGP said a full assessment of the damage was underway, but as far as was known no-one was seriously injured during the incident.
Some media outlets reported the Canadian F50 catamaran was the affected boat and the story on the SailGP website contained a picture showing rubble bearing the name of the team’s partner, Algorand.
The foreboding weather also provided a dramatic backdrop as Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo claimed gold in the men’s individual race at the world cross country championships.
With an electrical storm bearing down on Bathurst late on Saturday afternoon, officials made the decision to move the concluding men’s race forward by 20 minutes.
It turned out to be a good call, as conditions were worsening by the minute as the race developed.
With lightning flashing nearby, storm clouds gathering overhead and the rain getting heavier, spectators were ordered to leave Mt Panorama as soon as the race finished.
The medal ceremonies were moved to an undercover venue at nearby Charles Sturt University.
Heat intensifies in some states
Meanwhile the weather bureau has cancelled its heatwave warning for NSW and Victoria over the next three days.
The heatwave was downgraded to “low intensity”, with a cooler outlook from Sunday to Tuesday, although temperatures in the west of NSW would be in the high thirties.
Victoria experienced a cool change late Friday which is expected to remain over the three-day outlook to Tuesday.
However it’s a different story in Western Australia and South Australia where heatwaves are expected to increase in area and intensity.
Western Australia still faces extreme and severe temperatures until Tuesday with maximums in the low to mid forties, and into the high forties in the far west Pilbara.
Severe heatwave conditions are expected to increase in intensity across much of the state, expanding towards the west and south in the coming days and reaching extreme in the southeast by mid week.
Locations likely to be impacted include Eucla, Kalgoorlie, Laverton, Leinster, Leonora, Wiluna and Warburton.
South Australia can expect to peak in the low forties over the weekend, increasing to mid-forties across western and central SA early in the week.
Severe to extreme heatwave conditions are expected to increase in area and intensity there into next week.
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