NSW Windstorm: Sydney Airport faces severe delays/cancellations, firefighters continue to fight blazes

  • September 9, 2019

Left: A chaotic scene from Sydney Airport (Screengrab/TwitterMomentsAustralia); Right: Fire burning on Mount McKenzies Road on the southern outskirts of Tenterfield. Supplied: RFS/Glen Innes

Strong winds and rain is continuing to batter Sydney and surrounding coastal region – a severe weather warning is in place for large parts of the NSW coast with hazardous surf conditions churning up monstrous waves and wind gusts exceeding 90km/h along the south coast and Hunter Region.

Sydney Airport faces severe delays/cancellations:

While the city battles the storm, its toll has been felt by Sydney Airport too – passengers have been warned of severe delays and cancellations, and to check with the status of their flight with their airline prior to leaving for the airport.

The delays are said to have started early – until 11 a.m. only one runway was operational causing severe delays. While the other runway is said to have opened, the weather conditions are still severe. According to media reports, more than 20 flights, all domestic flights, have been cancelled. No international flights are said to be cancelled so far.

Firefighters continue to fight blazes:

Meanwhile, firefighters are continuing to control the intense blazes, a fight which has continued throughout the weekend. Firefighting efforts on Sunday were focused on two out-of-control blazes at Bees Nest in Armidale and Long Gully Road in Drake, east of Tenterfield, which are both at watch-and-act alert level. The Bees Nest blaze, which is burning on multiple fronts, is said to have torched more than 56,000 hectares.  A number of homes have been lost or damaged by raging fires fueled by the wind in the state since Friday.