SYDNEY, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Australia's two most populated states -- New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria -- have been grappling with a cluster of chaos since Thursday, as a cold front continues to envelop the country's southeast.

The storm season in Australia runs from September to March of next year. While the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has tipped a parched spring, damaging winds, large hail, and heavy rainfall that can lead to floods are still inevitable.

Only days after the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) launched its annual storm season campaign urging communities to take precautions, a severe weather warning for damaging winds came into effect on Thursday.

Massive gusts recorded by Thredbo Top Station reached a striking 143 km per hour.

By 12:00 p.m. local time on Friday, the NSW SES had received more than 200 calls over a time span of 24 hours, with much of the damage reported in Sydney's metropolitan area.

"Most of the incidents were for fallen trees, including some very large ones which blocked traffic and impacted powerlines," said NSW SES Metro Zone Commander Allision Flaxma. "Three large trees also caused extensive damage to a property at Frenchs Forest."

Meanwhile, in Victoria, the local emergency service answered 800 incoming calls since midnight.

Victoria SES State Commander David Baker told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that about 24,000 homes and businesses in the state's southwest suffered power outages.

Strong winds also compelled major airlines, including Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin Australia, to delay or cancel their flights at Australia's busiest airports, among which domestic services took the brunt of the disruptions.

At least 106 flights arriving in or departing from Sydney Airport were canceled on Friday, while Melbourne Airport saw the number hit 69.

BOM estimated that the cold conditions and damaging winds in the southeast are set to ease in the coming hours, as the cold front is moving to sea.

"The cold air will linger over southeast Australia during the weekend, with showers, small hail, and low-level snow persisting over Tasmania and southern Victoria," said the weather bureau.

"New South Wales and northern Victoria are set to have dry, sunny weather over the weekend, with frosty mornings inland," it noted. Enditem

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