Storms in Australia have caused thousands of power outages
Severe weather hit the Australian city of Sydney for the second day in a row on Wednesday, and the storm has caused power outages in thousands of homes in southeastern Australia.
At least 55 domestic flights have been canceled to and from Sydney, according to Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia, the country's largest airlines.
35,000 buildings and properties are also without power.
Train services in Sydney have been disrupted in several places, and authorities are urging people to avoid non-essential travel.
- Be very careful. It's really wild out there, so if you can postpone your trip, do so, says Dallas Burnes, head of emergency services in the state of New South Wales, to ABC News.
- We expect a very busy day today, where people will wake up and see the damage from last night, he says.
A coastal low pressure, which meteorologists have described as a "bomb cyclone", hit Australia's southeast coast on Wednesday night with wind gusts of almost 28 meters per second, which is equivalent to gale force winds.
It caused fallen trees and damaged power lines. In some areas, the same amount of rain fell in six hours as it normally does in a month.
Several roads in the Illawarra region, south of Sydney, have been closed due to flooding and fallen trees.
Conditions are expected to worsen during Wednesday, with the storm later weakening and moving across the Tasman Sea and then on towards New Zealand on Thursday.
The low pressure could bring heavy rain and strong winds to the North Island of New Zealand from Thursday and could extend into the weekend, the country's authorities have said.
On Tuesday night, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Danes to stay updated about storms and cloudbursts in large parts of New South Wales.
/ritzau/Reuters
