Severe weather warning for Lord Howe Island
The Bureau of Meteorologyhas warnedof “notably windy conditions and elevated seas” today for Lord Howe Island, 600km east of Port Macquarie.
Strong to gale force winds and large and powerful waves are expected.Damaging winds west to north-westerly averaging 50 to 60 kmh and gusts reaching 90 kmh are possible this morning.
Sydney’s Warragamba Dam set to spill after heavy rain
Water flowing out of Australia’s largest urban water supply will add to the risk of flooding after a damaging and complex low pressure system caused widespread havoc, Australian Associated Press reports.
Warragamba Dam west of Sydney was expected to begin a “moderate spill” into this morning after days of heavy rain, WaterNSW said.
Following recent rainfall, Warragamba Dam is close to full capacity and a moderate spill is anticipated later tonight. Checkhttps://t.co/aGvuSITpvWfor weather and flood warnings. For emergency information, contact the NSW SES - 132 500https://t.co/gHMkemmKK0pic.twitter.com/3P61ArIg7o
State regulations do not allow water to be released at the dam before predicted rainfall or to mitigate floods as it supplies 80% of Sydney’s drinking water.
Spills at the dam are not uncommon, previously occurring in May, and three times in 2024.
Warragamba Dam flows into the Hawkesbury-Nepean river catchment, where the bureau has warned flooding could occur today.
Other, smaller dams were also spilling after reaching capacity following heavy rains.
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The Bureau of Meteorology said this morning that a series of low pressure systems that has battered New South Wales remain in the Tasman Sea.
But a secondary low that was moving northwards and brought more wild weather has begun to weaken. Winds are expected to ease today around higher ground in the north of the state later during the morning, the BoM said.
There would be strong to damaging west to south-westerly winds averaging 55 to 65 kmh, the 4am update said, with peak gusts of around 100 kmh likely around parts of the Northern Tablelands, the mid-north coast hinterland and the Border Ranges. But the wind is expected to ease later this morning.
Severe weather “is no longer occurring in the Hunter, Metropolitan, Illawarra and South Coast districts”, the BoM said, and the warning for these districts was cancelled.
However, there would damaging surf conditions on the coast between Seal Rocks in the north to the Victorian border with the threat of “coastal erosion and localised damage to coastal infrastructure”.
Qantas customers have been told to be on high alert for scams after one of the worst cyber attacks in months, Australian Associated Press reports.
Qantas yesterday revealed a cyber incident on a third-party platform used by the airline’s contact centre thatexposed the detailsof six million customers.
Names, phone numbers, dates of birth and email addresses are among the data believed to be exposed in the leak.
But Qantas reassured customers financial information, passport numbers, credit card details and frequent flyer PIN codes were not accessed.
Customers are urged to stay on high alert in coming months because they may experience targeted phishing scams.
The type of personal information could be used in further cyber attacks, a security expert says.
“I think even with reassurances, the breach of names, email addresses, phone numbers and perhaps most importantly, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers, it’s still significant,” the executive director of Macquarie University’s cyber security hub,ProfDali Kaafar, said.
Kaafar said the details could lead to malicious actors building a more complete profile about individuals to make them more susceptible to other forms of cybercrime.
Qantas launched an investigation into the attack on Wednesday as customers reeled from the news. There has been no confirmation of the group responsible.
Qantas shares on the ASX shed about 3.6% to $10.38 on Wednesday in response to the news.
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’mMartin Farrerbringing you the early headlines and breaking news and then it’ll beRafqa Toumain the chair.
There is relief in sight for wind and rain-battered New South Wales after theBureau of Meteorologysaid this morning that the low pressure system that has caused havoc for the state has begun to weaken. However, it looks like there will still be high winds anddamaging surf conditions today. More coming up.
Qantas customers have been told to be on high alert for scams after another cyber attacks hit the company this week andexposed the detailsof six million customers.
More coming up.