Sixty passengers were taken from a train hit by fallen power lines at Lake Macquarie and others were left stranded for about an hour when a tree crashed through the driver’s window in Sydney’s west.
Residents in more than 40 properties in Wamberal and North Entrance on the Central Coast were told to evacuate as coastal erosion threatened homes, while people in Jervis Bay, Ulladulla and Batemans Bay were advised to stay indoors.
About 10pm, NSW SES said they’d been called out to 1300 incidents in 24 hours, including two flood rescues, and about 9000 homes and businesses were without power.
NSW Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib warned the weather would likely become more severe overnight and into Wednesday, saying wind gusts could reach 125km/h.
“The sheer size of it is quite enormous,” Dib said.
“This situation is going to worsen over the course of the next 24 hours, particularly over this afternoon, into the evening and early tomorrow.
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“This is not the time for complacency. In the next 24 hours, there’s a chance of more rain and strong and damaging winds.”
Posting on Facebook, NSW SES Deputy Commissioner Debbie Platz hailed an “amazing effort” by more than 1200 volunteers and emergency partners.
“The weather is still deteriorating in some areas of NSW. Please heed the warnings and stay safe,” she said.
Ulladulla copped 83 millimetres of rain in eight hours on Tuesday and 70 millimetres fell in Kiama.
Montague Island, Kiama and Point Perpendicular all recorded wind gusts of about 90km/h.
Flood watches remain in place in parts of the Mid North Coast, Hunter, Hawkesbury-Nepean, Sydney, Illawarra Coast, South Coast and Snowy catchments and into much of south-east Victoria.
Transport for NSW warned rail commuters to avoid non-essential travel after fallen trees and water over the tracks hit parts of the network.
On Tuesday night, T1 North Shore line trains were not running between Central and Wynyard, and buses were replacing trains on the Central Coast and Newcastle lines between Fassifern and Wyong.
Trains were not running between Hawkesbury River and Gosford or on the Hunter line between Newcastle interchange, Scone and Dungog.
Transport for NSW said a tree crashed through the driver’s windscreen and hit overhead lines at Kingswood on the T1 Western and Blue Mountains line, cutting services.
Passenger Mike Crabtree said he was stuck just outside Penrith for about an hour.
“I spoke about it this morning. My missus said to me, you might have troubles on the train, and I risked it,” he said.
Benji Sitter said he had been headed into Blacktown for MMA training when the train had to stop.
“Now the trains aren’t running back up the mountains, and they’re not going to Blacktown as well [so I’m just] stranded here,” he said.
“It’s like freezing cold, rainy, like full torrential storm.”
Earlier in the day at Dora Creek in Lake Macquarie, 60 people were taken from the train to a bus after power lines fell on the train. No one was injured.
