commuters face windy trip home Strong winds hit Sydney More than 40,000 homes and businesses have been left without power after strong winds hit Sydney on Thursday afternoon, with gusts of up to 95km/h bringing down trees and power lines. PT0M49S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2yto9 620 349 December 5, 2013 - 6:30PM Power is being restored to more than 40,000 homes and businesses after strong winds hit Sydney on Thursday afternoon, with gusts of up to 95km/h bringing down trees and power lines and causing delays on roads and at Sydney Airport. The State Emergency Service is responding to 470 calls for help across Sydney, mostly for fallen trees or those threatening to come down. The Bureau of Meterology issued a severe weather warning at 2.45pm, warning of damaging winds for the Sydney, Hunter and Illawarra regions. Strong winds in Sydney on Thursday afternoon blew this tree into an apartment block. Photo: Joe Gorman via Twitter @JoeGorman_89 At the airport, travellers are facing hour-long delays and Qantas and Virgin have cancelled 15 flights after the airport was limited to using only one runway, instead of two. A Qantas spokeswoman said bad weather in Melbourne and Brisbane were also causing problems. An 18-year-old man was taken to Westmead Hospital with ankle injuries when he was hit by a falling tree on Campbell Street in Parramatta just after 3pm. Tree uprooted at Rhodes station. Photo: Molita Coelho-Lewis via Twitter @molitac Between 2.30pm and 3.30pm, the temperature fell almost 10 degrees as a strong front moved in, going from 25.9 degrees to 16.7 degrees in the city. "That's a pretty substantial drop," Weatherzone meterologist James Casey said. If you were walking around in shorts and a T-shirt and all of a sudden the wind came, you'd definitely notice it. Mr Casey said the south-westerly winds were expected to continue through the night before easing mid-morning on Friday. Ausgrid said power was cut for about 30,000 homes and businesses around Hornsby and Berowra but has since been restored to most customers. Endeavour Energy said power had been cut to 10,000 customers in western Sydney and the Hawkesbury region. Traffic lights went out on Pennant Hills Road between Waitara and Normanhurst and three sets of traffic lights were out on Seven Hills Road, near Baulkham Hills. Trees have fallen across Bobbin Head Road in North Turramurra and on McKell Avenue in the Royal National Park. An Ausgrid spokesman advised people to stay away from fallen power lines and report them to 13 13 88.