Flights to and from Sydney have reportedly been grounded as heavy rain, hail and strong winds hit the city.
Severe thunderstorms struck the Harbour City today, bringing weather so strong it even lead the Bureau of Meteorology to issue a tornado warning.
While earlier in the day only domestic flights were affected, now all flights have been grounded, while all flights scheduled to land in Sydney have been diverted to airports elsewhere in Australia.
MASCOT: Traffic’s heavy on #MarshSt approaching Sydney Airport International Terminal. Allow extra travel time.
— Live Traffic Sydney (@LiveTrafficSyd) December 15, 2015
In addition to flight cancellations, travellers have had a bit of trouble accessing the gateway this morning with major traffic to and from the gates.
Sydney Airport retweeted a warning for those travelling to the airport to allow for extra time.
The traffic to and from the airport is reportedly so bad, people are actually get out of their taxis and walking to their gates.
.@guardianaus reader Claire Milet took this, of people getting out of cars to walk to #SydneyAirport in #sydneystorm pic.twitter.com/7GbkszdJcp
— (Joyeux No)Elle Hunt (@mlle_elle) December 16, 2015
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Kiama and Bondi Beach have already been hit by the bad weather and thunderstorms are slowly moving towards the north and northeast adn expected to hit Jamberoo, Mona Vale and Shellharbour by 12.00pm.
“Destructive winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely.”
Bureau of Meteorology
Cronulla locals have already been hit by large hailstones that compare to the size of a ping pong ball.
Check out this pic shared on Twitter:
Just a little bit hail @BOM_nsw #sydney #hail #sydneystorm @smh @newscomauHQ @ Cronulla Beach pic.twitter.com/7hYSmeFC1L
— Rebecca Murphy (@rebeccamurphy) December 16, 2015
