Australian storm leaves 3 dead and disrupts everything from internet to shipping

A weekend of wild weather in Australia disrupted everything from the internet to shipping and banking, while pummelling coastal towns and exposing insurance companies to hefty payouts. At least three people died and more are missing as storms hit the east coast. Stocks in Australia biggest insurers, including QBE Insurance, Insurance Australia Group and Suncorp, were lower on the Australian Securities Exchange, with the wider market trading in positive territory. A clean-up was underway on Monday after a low pressure system that brought flooding and strong winds combined with high tidal surges along much of the Australian east coast started to ease.

While we aim to ensure continuity of our systems, the severe storm system created disruptions across our network which impacted our services.

Westpac Bank, which saw its ATMs crash

Australian websites including Channel Nine, Foxtel Play and Domino’s Pizza went down on Sunday when Amazon Web Service’s Sydney zone experienced a two-hour power outage, according to Australian website ITnews. The New South Wales state emergency services said it had received more than 9,250 calls and had conducted 280 flood rescues. A spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New South Wales state said the Newcastle port, the world’s largest exit point for seaborne thermal coal and used by global miners Glencore, Rio Tinto and Anglo American, was placed on restricted ship movements over the weekend but did not sustain any damage.

Australia storm