Heavy Rains Leave Thousands of Australians in Darkness

Tens of thousands of people were left without electricity in New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday after a low-pressure system brought destructive winds and heavy rains, triggering flood warnings.

According to Reuters, electricity provider Ausgrid reported that around 28,000 people in Sydney, the state capital and Australia’s largest city, were without power, along with 15,000 people in the nearby city of Newcastle and the Hunter region.

The state emergency services agency confirmed on its website that it had received 2,825 calls for assistance since Friday, most of them related to fallen trees and property damage caused by strong winds.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology issued warnings for flooding, destructive winds, and heavy rain across several parts of the state, noting that winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour could occur in mountainous areas.

Local media highlighted that these warnings follow last week’s storms, which caused trees and power lines to fall, leaving 200,000 people without power in New South Wales.