Authorities declared a natural disaster in parts of eastern Australia on Saturday, where the storm downed trees and knocked out power to thousands of homes.
Sydney and other areas of New South Wales have been experiencing heavy rain, lightning and strong winds up to 100 kilometers per hour since Wednesday.
State Emergency Services Minister Jihad Diab said several downed power lines left about 30,000 properties without power on Saturday – down from a peak of more than 260,000.
“This is an incident that is affecting the entire state,” he told reporters.
He said emergency services had responded to more than 7,000 incidents around New South Wales.
“We know this is not an easy thing to go through.”
So far, disasters have been declared in three local government areas, he said, opening up assistance to people seeking emergency accommodation, essential goods, repairs and cleaning.
Electricity network Ausgrid said 140,000 customers had lost power on Wednesday and another 68,000 since Friday, with winds reaching 100 kilometers per hour in some areas.
An elderly man died when his car crashed into a tree in Cowra, about 230 kilometers west of Sydney, on Wednesday due to the storm, police said.
