Flights halted in Australia amid wild winds

Strong winds across Australia’s southeast coast yesterday caused commuter chaos at Sydney and Melbourne airports — the country’s two busiest.

Thousands of air travellers were stranded after dozens of flights were cancelled. Winds gusting up to 70 kilometres per hour also fanned major bushfires along the east coast, threatening homes and forcing evacuations.

Sydney Airport cancelled 76 flights after all but one runway was closed due to the strong winds.