Australia Weather News

Winds in excess of 100kph have delayed flights in Sydney, blown roofs off buildings in Wollongong, and left some 12,300 homes and businesses on the state's south coast without power.

Airservices Australia has ordered the Sydney Airport to shut two of its three runways, leading to a number of flight delays and cancellations.

Passengers are being urged to check in with their airlines to confirm the status of their flights.

Train services between Kiama and Bomaderry were also disrupted this morning after a tree was blown across the tracks at Gerringong.

Transport for NSW says normal services have now been restored.

In Bellambi, north of Wollongong, a gust of 117kph was recorded at 9am, while gusts up to 102kph were recorded further south at Albion Park and Port Kembla.

The State Emergency Service has responded to 230 calls for assistance since midnight, while 12,300 businesses and homes were without power in the area at the time of writing.

SES Southern Zone duty commander Matt Price told the ABC most of the jobs had involved damaged roofs and powerlines.

"We've seen some significant wind gusts overnight … and seen a big uptake in job in the last couple of hours in the Illawarra and south coast," he said.

In Wollongong's CBD a beauty business in Keira Street had its roof ripped off by the strong gusts and the road closed by emergency service crews.

There have also been reports of trees crushing cars and falling on homes around Sydney.

The SES received 60 calls for help in the hour between 9am and 10am, with that numbers expected to grow throughout the day.

"We'll no doubt get another surge in requests for assistance at 4pm or 5pm when people start to return home from work and see any damage that's occurred during the day," Commander Price said.

"The teams will be flat at it all day for however long it takes and into tomorrow."

Power out

Endeavour Energy crews are working to restore power to the thousands of homes and businesses.

Damage to a substation at Unanderra, south of Wollongong, left around 7,000 properties without power.

The worst-affected areas in the Illawarra include Unanderra, Farmborough Heights and Berkeley.

Further south, other areas without supply include Huskisson, Shoalhaven Heads, Shell Cove, Ulladulla, Berry and North Nowra.

Endeavour Energy's manager of corporate affairs, Kate McCue, told the ABC that by midday crews had 385 hazard reports to inspect.

"The bulk of those customers will come back on when we restore supply to Unanderra," she said.

Power for some residents may not be restored until Thursday.

Other areas impacted by the power outages include Batlow and Harden in the state's south, as well as the Monaro area.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds for people in Illawarra and parts of Mid North Coast, Hunter, Metropolitan, South Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands and Northern Tablelands forecast districts.

A gale warning is in place for Sydney Enclosed Waters, the Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast, Illawarra Coast, Batemans Coast and Eden Coast.