Heavy seas ran on the NSW Central, Hunter and Mid North Coasts today as the East Coast Low developed offshore. Waves recorded by the Manly Hydraulics Laboratory's buoy off Bondi averaged 5 to 6 metres throughout the day, peaking at over 10m early this afternoon.

Gales, high seas batter E NSW as snow eases

Gale force winds battered the NSW coast from the Illawarra to as far north as Kempsey today bringing destruction, disruption and heavy winter seas. Early estimates put the cost of wind damage at around $3m. The winds and seas developed between a slowly deepening low of around 1005hPa east of Sydney and a strong high of more than 1040hPa SW of Adelaide. The highest recorded wind gusts were 108km/h on Sydney Harbour and 106km/h at Kiama. Snow also continued to fall in parts of the state, most notably on the Barrington Tops (see story for 17 July).

Around Sydney, the SES fielded about 500 calls today, mostly for roof and tree damage. At least two homes lost their roofs. In Cronulla, the tin roof of one home was blown over three other houses before landing intact in a neighbouring family's backyard, causing little other damage and not even awakening the family. "They were asleep until the rain woke them up," an SES spokesman said. "Our people were trying to find the house matching the roof." At Clovelly, another airborne roof crashed into an apartment block, smashing windows and injuring a resident.

Debris, trees and branches blocked roads at Oxford Falls and Chatswood in the city's north. There were over 75 reports of downed powerlines in the east of the city, most notably around Kensington, Lilyfield and Seaforth, however only about 200 homes lost power. Wind damage to a building in George Street in the CBD dislodged glass and cables, requiring police to close off and evacuate the area. Two balconies 18 storeys up a Bondi Junction apartment were dislodged, closing Hollywood Avenue for two hours before they were secured. Anzac Parade Randwick was blocked by an uprooted giant fig tree. Fallen trees and branches closed Botany Bay National Park South.

Heavy seas built up overnight along the coast from Sydney to north of Newcastle. The waverider buoy off Bondi recorded 5 to 6m swells throughout today, with peak waves from 9 to over 10m during the afternoon and evening. The rough seas caused cancellation of all Manly and Cronulla ferry services today and through Monday.

Elsewhere along the coast the SES recorded around 200 callouts for wind damage and blocked roads. In the Shoalhaven, most damage was around Callala and Sanctuary Point. Five thousand homes on the Southern Highlands and 4,000 in the Illawarra were blacked out when powerlines were torn down by the wind or falling trees. Several hundred were not reconnected until Monday. On the Central Coast, the most unusual of many calls to make trees safe was to a damaged gum tree at North Avoca, where about 30 distraught bush turkeys that lived in the tree were reluctant to leave.

A narrow band of continuing heavy rain on the coast northeast of Newcastle exacerbated the problems of gales and heavy seas between Nelson Bay and Forster, with Pacific Palms, 15km S of Forster, recording 102mm today and through Monday. Nelson Head recorded 166.6mm for the complete rain event (4 days to 9am Wednesday) of which 73.2 fell in the 24 hours to 9 this morning and a further 30.6 to 9am Monday morning. This is the most exposed part of the NSW coast to southerly winds, as it trends from SW to NE, and the SES were kept busy with trees brought down or threatening houses, and wind-driven water entering houses. A tree had to be lifted by crane from a house at Green Point.

Farther north, tree, roof and property damage was reported from Camden Haven, Port Macquarie, westwards along the Oxley Highway and around Kempsey.

Coldest VIC day a qualified record

The maximum temperature of -6.6 today on the summit of Mt Hotham has set a new record for lowest maximum temperature in Victoria. Official maximum temperatures in Australia are recorded for the day from 9am to 9am, meaning that the temperature at Mt Hotham did not exceed -6.6 between 9 this morning and 9 o'clock Monday morning. Such a long period of low temperature underlines the severity of the cold outbreak reported yesterday, but comes with some qualifications.

Blair Trewin, a climatologist with the National Climate Centre of the Bureau of Meteorology, explains: "The previous record was -6.2, also at Mount Hotham, on 5 September 1995. It is only since the early 1990s that there have been consistent observations on the Victorian peaks (there was a manual site at Mount Hotham before that, but its reporting was often erratic to say the least), so the record isn't quite as spectacular as it sounds, but still suggests that we've had a noteworthy event."