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Fire, people trapped as wild weather sweeps SE Australia

Fire at Horningsea Park

Source: NSW RFS

A grassfire is threatening homes in Sydney and two people have been trapped in a car by a fallen tree in Victoria as a wild end to winter brings dangerous weather across south-eastern Australia.

The NSW Rural Fire Service said the fire was burning on Camden Valley Way, in Horningsea Park.

“[It is] burning in an easterly direction towards Edmondson Park. If you are in Talarna Hill Drive to Jardine Drive area, seek shelter now,” it said in an alert on Wednesday afternoon.

It was too late for those residents to leave, the RFS said.

Fire & Rescue NSW said more than 20 fire trucks and 80 firefighters were on scene or on route, including bushfire tankers and a mobile command centre.

Shortly after 4pm, a watch and act message was issued for a second fire on nearby Richardson Road, Spring Farm.

The RFS had earlier issued fire danger warnings for Sydney and the Illawarra and Shoalhaven areas as a weather system, described as one of the strongest cold fronts of 2024, sweeps across south-eastern Australia.

It came weeks ahead of the October 1 start of the official rural fire season in NSW, and days before winter officially ends on Saturday.

On Tuesday, forecaster Weatherzone said the “powerful and dangerous” system could cause damaging winds in parts of Victoria, NSW, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia.

Severe weather update

Source: Bureau of Meteorology

On Wednesday morning, NSW State Emergency Service superintendent Dallas Burnes said there had already been 200 callouts, mostly in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and south coast regions.

“The majority for trees down, branches down. [There’s been] no significant infrastructure damage. But for those residents impacted, it’s significant for those people. It’s important that people prepare for those storms,” he said.

“It’s not a day for a walk in the woods. Please stay away from trees and branches. It’s probably too late to clean your gutters now. We don’t want people on roofs while the gusts are happening … Our volunteers are prepared to help as needed, but the best thing is to prepare to keep yourselves safe.”

Weatherzone reported the wild winds had created havoc at Sydney Airport, with all six landing and take-off options affected by strong cross winds.

South of the border, Victorian SES volunteers had responded to more than 600 calls for assistance since Tuesday afternoon, mostly related to downed trees. Nearly 100 buildings have been damaged across the state.

BOM senior meteorologist Kevin Parkin said it had been “a wild, woolly night” in Victoria.

“We saw wind gusts as much of 128km/h at Mount Buller. We saw wind gusts down near Cape Otway of 124km/h and also down at Portland, 107km/h through the Melbourne area,” he said.

“That belt of really strong, gusty winds will move through central parts [of Victoria] late afternoon [and] contract to west and South Gippsland around sunset or a bit afterwards, and then contract to the very far east of the state and the alpine region by tonight.

“But it’ll be short-lived. These winter gales are going to continue. We’ll see another front weather system move across Victoria during the early hours of Friday.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Victorian authorities were trying to rescue two people trapped in a car after a tree fell on it at Gellibrand, in the Otway Ranges.

“Emergency services are currently on scene and attempting to remove the tree before attempting to extricate those two people that are significantly trapped within the vehicle,” Victorian State Emergency commander Tim Wiebusch said.

There are also warnings of extremely high tides and inundation in low-lying areas.

“We are expecting to see abnormally high tide with dangerous surf, which means that we could see inundation of things like the surf, beach, car parks and those sort of areas along the foreshore,” Wiebusch said.

“We’re asking people not to go about rock fishing, not to go about attempting to swim in the swells. These are dangerous surf conditions and can be life-threatening.”

More than 10,000 Victorians were without power on Wednesday morning. By the afternoon, Powercor said it was responding to 100 faults, including 20 fallen power poles.

There are also severe warnings in western and northern Tasmania, where emergency services responded to 44 requests overnight.

Acting SES assistant director Cheryl Ames urged Tasmanians to stay up to date with forecasts and warnings, noting flood watches for the Huon River and Styx River at Bruces Bridge.

“One severe weather warning remains in place for people in King Island, Furneaux Islands, Western and parts of South East, North West Coast and Central North Forecast Districts,” Ames said.

The wild weather has continued in the nation’s west, with WA’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services issuing a “prepare now alert” for storms in parts of Perth and the south-west, lower south-west, Great Southern and Upper Great Southern regions.

Residents in Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, Esperance, Mandurah, Margaret River and Mount Barker were warned to tie down outdoor furniture and trampolines, prepare for blackouts and clear drains to avoid overflow.

-with AAP

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