Violent storms lash Sydney, giant sized hailstones pelt down across the state
Sydney and the New South Wales central coast have been battered by the worst hailstorm in almost 20 years.
Cars were dented and windscreens smashed by hailstones as big as eight centimetres.
The wild weather also cut power to more than 25,000 properties on the Endeavour Energy network.
That’s now down to 5500, mainly in the city’s north.
These hailstones at #Wamberal near #Gosford are bigger than golf balls #SydneyStorm. @2GB873 pic.twitter.com/M8FLJs1xtp
— Emily O’Brien (@EmilyC_OBrien) December 20, 2018
The SES received more than 3600 calls for help.
They’re still working their way through the backlog, mainly in Sydney’s north around Hornsby and Gosford.
NSW SES Media Officer Phil Schafer tells John Stanley they’re responding to 2000 jobs this morning.
“There’s over 125 teams out there in the SES on the ground right now working madly to try… and return people’s lives to a little bit of normality.
“The focus for us is the cleanup, the damage is quite widespread.”
He says they’ve put a call out to the RFS and Fire and Rescue NSW for support.
Click PLAY below for an update from the SES
SEE PHOTOS BELOW
Hailstone at Holsworth
Sent in by Peter from Hoxton Park
Sent in by Peter from Hoxton Park
Sent in by Peter from Hoxton Park
Hailstones at Gosford
Hailstones at Umina
Hailstones at Umina
Sent in by Sudesh from Prestons
Hailstones at Glenfield, sent in by Roland
The hail hit Macquarie Radio reporter Emily O’Brien especially hard – with the hailstones destroying her car near Gosford.
After all that, I couldn’t run outside to move my car…#SydneyStorm @2GB873 pic.twitter.com/LCVK5nCqq2
— Emily O’Brien (@EmilyC_OBrien) December 20, 2018
Emily says she woke up to the sound of rolling thunder and hailstones hitting the roof.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she tells Luke Grant.
“These hailstones were… between the size of golf balls and a tennis ball.”
Click PLAY below to hear from Macquarie Radio’s Emily O’Brien
The storm was so destructive, the Insurance Council has declared it an “insurance catastrophe”.
Australian Insurance Council’s Campbell Fuller tells Chris Smith insurers have already received 15,000 claims.
“The losses associated with those 15,000 is about $80 million.
And he expects that bill to rise.