Sydney braces for blackouts as Australian heatwave keeps ice cream sellers indoors
The mercury is set to soar above 40 degrees Celsius, with New South Wales set to experience its hottest February day on record on Saturday
Australians in Sydney face power outages on Friday as an extreme heatwave moves from the desert interior to the country’s most populated city, with demand straining power supplies.
The anticipated outages, as authorities temporarily suspend power to selected areas to prevent overload, come just days after 40,000 homes and businesses lost electricity in the state of South Australia.
It was like the windows and doors were closed for a long time, and now a weather front has dragged the hot air here
Weather forecaster Olenka Duma said a build-up of heat in Australia’s interior was being pushed to New South Wales state.
“It was like the windows and doors were closed for a long time, and now a weather front has dragged the hot air here,” Duma, an official of the Bureau of Meteorology, told Reuters.
The mercury is set to soar above 40 degrees Celsius, with New South Wales set to experience its hottest February day on record on Saturday.
Australia’s energy market operator said on Thursday power supplies were expected to be tight, with shortfalls anticipated in the late afternoon in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
It was too hot for people to go out, said Ned Qutami, owner of six mobile ice cream bars in Sydney.