More than 1,200 sites in NSW still affected by power outage after storm
More than 1,200 sites are affected by power outages this morning following lightning and stormy weather conditions in New South Wales last night.
The number of outage sites listed on the Ausgrid site jumped to more than 2,400 earlier this morning, after a tree fell in Cessnock. Power was out for those sites for less than 30 minutes.
The number of outages is back to 1,211 as of 10am this morning.
Key events
Body of man found after going missing in NSW river
The body of a man has been found two days after he went missing in the Murrumbidgee River.
Just after 2pm on Sunday, the 37-year-old man was reportedly seen to fall from a recreational floating device that was being towed behind a boat on the river at Darlington Point, NSW Police statement said.
He failed to resurface and could not be found.
Officers responded and were helped by NSW Ambulance, State Emergency Service and Volunteer Rescue Association members, with a search startingat 7:30am on Monday with NSW police divers attending, and starting up again today at 7:30am.
The body was located at about 8:10am, recovered and then a crime scene established, NSW Police said in a statement.
A report will be prepared for the Coroner.
Heatwave conditions as hot as 46C returning to Australia’s west and interior
On the other side of the country, heatwave conditions are returning with temperatures forecast to be 4C to 12C warmer than the typical January averages across parts of Western Australia – and up into the 40s in the next couple of days.
Some towns in the WA’s Pilbara, Gascoyne and north interior regions have forecasts of 46C today
Large parts of Queensland, including the north-west, central west and channel country, are facing temperatures in the low-mid 40s.
The Northern Territory interior is also set for a sweaty day, including in Alice Springs where temperatures are expected to reach 43C.
– Australian Associated Press
Late cool change could bring storm carnage to NSW’s eastern ranges and coast
Wild storms either side of a sweltering heatwave are keeping emergency services and power providers on their toes.
Scorching conditions that swept across Australia on the long weekend have moved from South Australia and Victoria to New South Wales on this morning, with much of the state – including Sydney – expecting temperatures in the high 30s or low 40s.
But a cool change expected in the afternoon could create severe thunderstorms carrying large hailstones and damaging winds.
That follows similar storms on Monday night, with 211 calls for help to the NSW State Emergency Service, mostly from metropolitan Sydney.
“The majority of incidents were for trees down on to properties and powerlines after strong winds swept through the east of the state … While (Tuesday) is hot, we are anticipating more afternoon thunderstorms with strong winds,” a spokesperson said.
NSW Rural fire service inspector Ben Shepherd warned of a “vast area of high fire danger”, particularly after 140,000 lightning strikes hit the state in the 24 hours to 7am.
BOM senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said a “southerly buster” would bring a sharp drop in temperatures in NSW from this afternoon. The change should bring strong winds and could also spark potentially severe thunderstorms, mostly around the eastern ranges and out towards the coast.
– Australian Associated Press
More to come in the next post
Jonathan Barrett
Australian stock market only slightly lower after Wall Street tech tumble
Australian shares opened modestly lower today, after technology stocks tumbled on Wall Street, spooked by a potential disruption to the US chip sector caused by the emergence of Chinese chatbot DeepSeek.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2% to trade just under the 8,400 mark in the opening minutes of trading. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets expect Australian technology stocks could come under pressure today.
The early trading could indicate a subdued reaction here to the fallout on Wall Street, given the overnight falls are linked to an emerging AI technology battle between the US and China.
While the US market closed lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has been robust.
DeepSeek’s model uses cheaper chips and less data, and either matches or outperforms its US counterparts, according to market analysts at IG.
“Bluntly put, its emergence challenges the assumption of US dominance in the AI space that followed ChatGPT’s release in November 2022,” IG said.
A two-year tech-led bull market had assumed US companies, including the high flying Nvidia, would dominate emerging AI technologies, in the supply, advancement and use of computer chips but that narrative is being tested.
The reaction from Wall Street was brutal, with Nvidia falling more than 17%, erasing about US$600bn ($954bn) in value from its market cap, representing the biggest one day loss for a US listed company.
Adeshola Ore
Fires destroy holiday cabins, Dimboola faces ‘very serious’ risk, Victorian premier says
The Victoran premier, Jacinta Allan, says cabins at an accommodation lodge in Nhill, in the state’s north-west, have been lost in a bushfire raging in the region.
Allan says the main building and a number of cabins at Little Desert Nature Lodge have been destroyed. She says emergency authorities are bracing for further property loss given the “ferocity of the fire”.
Allan says Dimboola – a town under a emergency warning in the state’ north-west – is facing a“ very serious and real risk”:
That fire has taken off, it’s taken off really, really quickly. In just a matter of hours the size of that fire spread to 64, 500 hectares.
Dimboola resident, Bruce Donnelly, took these photos yesterday as the temperature hit 43.6° and the Little Desert erupted with fires and extremely high winds.
New emergency warnings for Victoria fires, including for Strachans
A second emergency warning has been issued for Strachans, Victoria Point and Victoria Valley in the Grampians national park.
That blaze is about 180 hectares, in an area that has a mix of private property and campsites.
The area was not affected by fires burning in the Grampians earlier this summer, but holidaymakers and residents are now being told to evacuate while it’s still safe to do so.
People in the path of fires have been told to take medications and pets, while those travelling in the area are urged to turn on their headlights to help navigate through the smoke from the fires.
State Control Centre spokesperson Luke Heagerty says it’s expected crews will be fighting the fires for several weeks and authorities are concerned there may be other fires.
We can also have scenarios where dry lightning starts a fire in a tree stump, for example, it might not show up for another week or two.
We’re probably expecting that we’re going to be fairly busy out of what we saw moved through the state yesterday.
– Australian Associated Press
More on the out-of-control bushfires threatening homes and holiday spot in Victoria
Firefighters are battling two out-of-control bushfires, with residents of a regional town told it’s too late to leave and holidaymakers at a national park urged to flee while they still can.
The blazes are at Dimboola and Wail in northwest Victoria near the South Australian border, and in the southwestern part of the Grampians National Park.
The Dimboola fire was sparked by dry lightning at Little Desert National Park about lunch time on Monday and has already grown to 63,000 hectares, State Control Centre spokesperson Luke Heagerty said.
“The fire grew to such a size and was carrying such energy with it yesterday that it made it quite difficult for any containment to occur,” Heagerty told AAP.
He said it appears the fire had spread from public land to private property near the Wimmera River, close to the Dimboola Golf Course.
It’s believed most residents had evacuated to Horsham while it was still safe and it’s not yet known if any homes were lost. Heagerty said:
Assessments for property impacts will start today once there’s some better light in the area and it’s safe for our crews to do so, because they still need to make sure that it’s safe even for our crews to get in there and have a look at the impacts of the fire.
An additional 25 fire trucks were sent to attack that fire, with embers sparking small blazes ahead of the main blaze.
– Australian Associated Press
More to come in the next blog post.
More than 1,200 sites in NSW still affected by power outage after storm
More than 1,200 sites are affected by power outages this morning following lightning and stormy weather conditions in New South Wales last night.
The number of outage sites listed on the Ausgrid site jumped to more than 2,400 earlier this morning, after a tree fell in Cessnock. Power was out for those sites for less than 30 minutes.
The number of outages is back to 1,211 as of 10am this morning.
Motoring body drives push for road safety ratings
A globally recognised risk rating system should determine how the Australian government funds major roads, a peak motoring body says.
The national road toll has hit a 12-year high, with 1,300 people killed on roads in 2024, up from 1,258 the previous year.
Federal road funding would be better based on a risk assessment for the road, including information about how the proposed work will lift the road’s safety rating, the Australian Automobile Association says.
The International Road Assessment Program protocols help road authorities identify safety upgrades that will reduce road deaths and injuries. It is used in about 130 countries, including Greece, Vietnam, Croatia and Saudi Arabia.
The Australian version of the assessment program would highlight where the risk of fatal or serious injury is greatest across the road network.
The star ratings, between one and five, would be calculated using a range of risk factors and information, such as average daily traffic, speed limits, the number of lanes in each direction and the presence or absence of road barriers. That information would then be overlaid with crash data to understand how infrastructure contributes to crashes, enabling authorities to identify potential road works that will reduce the risks.
The Association says the greatest number of lives saved and serious injuries avoided per dollar invested are seen when upgrading low star roads to at least three-star safety standard.
– Australian Associated Press
Oceanography head named as Australian chief scientist
Oceanography professor and former CSIRO chief Tony Haymet has been appointed as Australia’s next chief scientist.
The science minister, Ed Husic, said Haymet would be able to provide advice on different approaches for scientific work in Australia. He told ABC Radio earlier this morning:
He’s got extensive experience advising government on science, particularly taking science leadership around climate change.
As we diversify supply chains, that means we need to do things differently and be able to find new ways of getting things done.
Haymet is a former director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and was the chief of marine research at the CSIRO. As well as serving as the chair of the Antarctic Science Foundation, he co-found MRV Systems, a company that makes robots used in the ocean.
He will take over from Cathy Foley, who finished up in the role in December. He is the tenth person to be named as chief scientist and will serve a three-year term.
– Australian Associated Press
Search resumes for missing man in NSW’s Murrumbidgee River
NSW police will resume a search in the state’s south today for a man missing in the Murrumbidgee River.
Just after 2pm on Sunday, a 37-year-old man was reportedly seen to fall from a recreational floating device that was being towed behind a boat on the river at Darlington Point, a NSW Police statement said.
He failed to resurface and could not be found.
Officers responded with assistance from NSW Ambulance, State Emergency Service and Volunteer Rescue Association who commenced a search. The search recommenced at 7.30am yesterday with NSW police divers attending.
The man is yet to be found, with the search resuming at 7.30am today.
