Gale-force winds hit Sydney on Friday, ripping roofs off buildings, flinging trees onto pedestrians and homes, and causing transport chaos.
Two people have been hospitalized after a large tree fell on them in Hyde Park in the city centre, and tens of thousands of homes remain without power after power lines were brought down by strong winds.
Other large trees fell in West Pymble, crashing into a house and uprooting a gas pipe, in Bondi and in Balmain, where it destroyed a parked car, fortunately empty.
Near Dick’s pub in Balmain, emergency services had to be called when the canvas roof of the beer garden was blown off.
In the inner west suburb of Drummoyne, a large section of roof blew into the center of a busy road landing on cars and stopping traffic, while train travelers battled delays after tree branches They fell on the tracks at St Peters.
At Sydney Airport, passengers had difficulty landing some and some flights were delayed, but all runways remained open despite crosswinds until Friday night, when sea waves forced one runway to close.
Southeasterly winds became stronger throughout the afternoon with gusts of 119 km/h recorded at Wattamolla in the south of the city, 104 km/h at Port Botany and wind speeds exceeding 90 km/h at the airport and Sydney Harbour.
Passengers are urged to contact their airlines directly to confirm any delays or cancellations to their flights.
The NSW SES said it had received hundreds of calls for assistance after gale-force winds wreaked havoc in Sydney on Friday, and clean-up efforts would last all weekend.

At Drummoyne, a section of the roof flew onto the road, sweeping away a car and stopping traffic.

Several homes in the city were damaged after winds reached more than 100 km/h in some areas.
Electricity supplier AusGrid had just restored power to 120,000 homes in Sydney’s north after Wednesday’s severe storms, when they had to resort to wind outages.
More than 20,000 homes across the city were still without power as of Friday night.
Crews will continue to clean up damage and restore power throughout the weekend.
The tin roof was also blown into the SCG stands amid strong winds that blew across the ground ahead of the Sydney Sixers’ Big Bash League clash with the Sydney Thunder.
Security guards evacuated fans from a bay in the Bill O’Reilly stand around 6:30 pm on Friday night when the roof sheets began to wave precariously directly above.

Field covers are blown away by strong winds as play is stopped due to rain during the BBL match between Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder at Sydney Cricket Ground. A section of the grandstand roof also blew off.

Trains delayed at St Peters after tree falls onto tracks

Thrill seekers on the Manly ferry in Sydney Harbor stood outside as huge waves battered the ship.

Some 20,000 homes remain without electricity on Friday night
The tarp fell from the bottom of the stands but did not hit anyone, prompting applause from those who had stayed nearby.
The bay remained empty afterward as security monitored the area.
The incident came just one night after a small fire broke out at the Gabba during Thursday night’s match between the Brisbane Heat and the Hobart Hurricanes, which was briefly stopped.
The two injured women, aged 35 and 66, who were hit by a falling huge tree in Hyde Park in Sydney’s CBD, were taken to St Vincent’s Hospital for treatment for minor injuries.
Emergency services were called to the scene at around 3.05pm on Friday after the tree fell onto the road on the Elizabeth Street side of the park and reported people were under it.
City of Sydney officials insist the trees had been inspected as part of routine public safety practices in July, adding they would do so again once the weather improved.
The first police officers to arrive on the scene frantically combed through a sea of branches and foliage to determine if anyone had been trapped.
Emergency services said no one appeared to have been seriously injured in the incident.
The tree, on the edge of the park near St James station, appeared to have split in two before crashing onto the nearby footpath.

Two women injured after tree was felled in Hyde Park in the CBD

The huge tree was split in half by the winds.

Both women were taken to San Vicente hospital for minor injuries.
Two people were hit by branches and thrown to the ground as onlookers rushed to their aid, according to a witness.
The man, who identified himself as Chris, said he was walking down Elizabeth Street when he heard the tree crack and saw it crash into a woman.
“There was a gust of wind and the tree just fell,” he told AAP.
‘A lady was in the middle of this. If I had been a few meters behind or a few meters ahead everything would have ended much worse.
But he came away with a couple of scratches, so he was very lucky. It is a busy area but, fortunately, everyone escaped.
At least three ambulance crews were among emergency services at the scene, where police diverted traffic when the tree blocked two lanes of southbound traffic.
Footage of the cleanup process captured about half a dozen emergency workers rushing to clean up the mess from the tree after the two women were rescued.
Sydney was still being lashed by rain on Friday after a week of wild storms and more rain and winds are forecast for Harbor City on Saturday before skies are expected to clear on Sunday with temperatures reaching just 23C .
Damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain have hit not only Sydney in recent days, but also the Hunter, Mid North Coast, Illawarra, Central Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains and Northern Tablelands districts.
A man in the central west New South Wales town of Cowra died when a tree fell on his vehicle and more than 200,000 homes in Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong were left without power on Wednesday due to lightning strikes.
According to Weatherzone, up to 73,700 strikes were detected within a 100 kilometer radius of the CBD on Wednesday. A total of 1.8 million lightning strikes were detected in an arc from Queensland to Tasmania in 24 hours.