Strong winds caused a three-storey wall of scaffolding to collapse onto a passing car in Sydney on Saturday, narrowly missing the vehicle.
The woman in her 40s was driving along Kangaroo Lane in Manly, on the city’s Northern Beaches, at about 4.20pm on Saturday when the structure collapsed onto the roof of her car.
The woman was temporarily trapped but managed to free herself before emergency services arrived.
Power lines were also torn down and the police closed the street for safety.
Officials confirmed the woman was “shaken” but miraculously unharmed, though the area remains closed until Saturday night as crews work to clean up.
The incident was one of several in Sydney as strong winds swept through the city, including a tree branch that fell onto a light rail carriage, trapping nearly 70 passengers inside.
A strong and windy cold front sweeping across south-east Australia is expected to continue bringing rain and freezing temperatures for the rest of the weekend.
Damaging wind warnings have been issued for Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, with temperatures dropping up to six degrees below average in some areas.
The three-storey wall of scaffolding collapsed onto a car travelling on Kangaroo Lane in Manly, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, at about 4.20pm on Saturday.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued severe weather warnings for parts of all four states with winds reaching more than 90 km/h in some places.
Damaging winds are likely in the south and east averaging 60 to 70 km/h, with peak gusts around 100 km/h, the bureau said.
The coastal town of Nowra on the New South Wales south coast recorded wind gusts of 100km/h shortly before 10am.
Damaging winds are expected to affect the entire Sydney metropolitan area on Saturday night, potentially including elevated parts of the Mid North Coast.
More than 60 passengers were trapped on a tram when strong winds in Sydney caused a tree to fall onto overhead power lines
Blizzard conditions are also expected in alpine areas.
Victoria’s Mount Buller received more than 25cm of snow across the mountain and up to 50cm is expected by the end of the day.
“Depths are around 80cm and the flakes are falling beautifully,” said resort spokeswoman Rhylla Morgan.
Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales also received 27cm of snow overnight.
A snow cam in Mt Buller’s village square on Saturday night shows the alpine regions are receiving a thick coating of snow.
The situation in South Australia has been particularly dire, with damaging weather causing power outages for tens of thousands of people across the state.
Damaging winds have hit the Adelaide metropolitan area, the upper and lower south-east of the state, the Flinders Ranges, the central north, the Murraylands, the Mount Lofty Ranges and the north-east pastoral districts.
About 45,000 customers have experienced power outages as a result of the severe weather since 5 a.m. Friday, SA Power Networks acting corporate affairs director Cecilia Schutz said Saturday afternoon.
Crews continue to repair downed power lines and restore power.
State emergency services have received more than 450 calls for assistance, including a partial building collapse in Mount Gambier, since 8am on Friday.
Most requests for help are related to fallen trees and trees on cars.
Cool and breezy weather is expected to gradually ease later during Saturday night but will persist through Sunday.
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