text: It's the worst storm to hit the NSW coast in a decade, but what everyone in the region wants to know is why no warning was given that it was going to be this bad. Climate specialist Don White from WeatherWatch Australia confirmed that severe weather warnings were issued by the Bureau of Meteorology on Sunday. However, although they knew it would occur somewhere around the southeast coast, they did not know exactly where. 'The storm was forecast to form between Port Macquarie and Newcastle - that’s as about as accurate as they could have predicted. But it turned out to hit closer to Newcastle than Port Macquarie,' Mr White told Daily Mail Australia. 'It all depends on exactly where it forms. This one formed in the worst possible spot, which was just north of Newcastle. It then covered 150km south from Newcastle to Wollongong where a third of Australia’s population live. Scroll down for video . A tree and power lines lie across a major road in Raymond Terrace, 50km north of Sydney . A large gum tree (left) that has been uprooted on a property at Booragul, a suburb near Lake Macquarie north of Sydney in NSW. Powerful winds on Monday night and Tuesday morning also brought down scaffolding (right) in Edgecliff, in Sydney's eastern suburbs . A chart from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology shows the forecast for wind speed across New South Wales on Tuesday night . The Hunter Valley was one of the worst-hit areas in NSW and this car in the town of Blacksmiths got the brunt of the weather . 'So it was always going to be very destructive. It’s not like it hit a few small fishing villages like a storm did on the south coast a few weeks ago.' Mr White also explained that those trying to forecast the weather had an even more difficult job now as there was not as much resources for them to call on and get the specific information they need. 'Our problem now is that any information that we can get from the upper atmosphere, which is where the cold air exists that initiates these types of conditions, is reliant on predicting satellite imagery,' Mr White told Daily Mail Australia. 'We don’t send up as many weather balloons any more, because of budget cuts so it’ll affect what can be forecast. 'It’s just economics. Weather balloons can now only be used in a limited number of places because of budget cuts, so there’s not as many going up every day which means we don’t get the same data as before from the upper atmosphere.' Mr White added that this information does not normally make a big difference, but it does in the storm season, because you can forecast thunder storms more accurately and pinpoint more accurately where these storms will be. 'But basically this was fairly well forecasted 24 to 48 hours ahead. The forecast was basically wet and windy but the actual intensity of these things is impossible to predict,' he says. 'This storm has also lasted a bit longer and hasn’t moved. Normally it’s 12 hours of severe weather and then it eases off. But this severe weather is lasting from 24 to 36 hours.' Emergency services admitted on Tuesday they were shocked by the severity of the storm and that their teams were overwhelmed by a weather system that changed very rapidly. Asked on ABC’s 7.30 programme if warning systems had failed, NSW State Emergency Services deputy commissioner Steve Pearce said: 'The weather system did change very rapidly. 'This was an east coast low initially which are always historically very severe weather system however they come in and they go very quickly, this didn't. This has just stayed and tracked, again we have never seen these cyclonic winds last for 24 hours straight that's what's caused the majority of the damage.’ A huge tree blocks a road in Avalon on Sydney's Northern Beaches after being uprooted by Tuesday's storms . A radar loop (left) and a cloud map (right) show the East Coast Low weather system causing gales and storm force winds . In Avalon on Sydney's Northern Beaches fallen trees and telegraph poles blocked roads and caused significant damage to property . The cyclone strength winds currently battering the NSW coast are being caused by an intense low-pressure system known as an East Coast Low. The stormy weather system,  formed in the Tasman Sea, hasn't hit NSW this strong since 2007 and is expected to be one of the longest lasting ever. But why was everyone taken so by surprise? East Coast Lows are particularly common in June and tend to be more frequent in autumn and winter. They are characterised by gales or storm force winds that can damage buildings, fell trees and powerlines, cause powerful surf that can damage the coast and, in some cases, run ships aground. They can also dump hundreds of millimetres of rain, causing flash flooding and riverine flooding. Mr White told Daily Mail Australia: 'It forms occasionally, usually once a year. But this particular one is quite strong and close to the coast winds are up to 135kmh and rain up to 200mm.’ Fire rescue in Narrabeen, in Sydney's northern suburbs, were called to a number of properties where storms had brought down trees . Ferry services have been cancelled at Parramatta (pictured) while services between Manly and Circular Quay have also been stopped . ‘This one is probably the strongest since 2007 and it is also going to be the longest lasting one,’ Mr White said. ‘They normally move away after 12 hours but this one is going to stick around for 24- 36 hours, which is unusually long for an East Coast Low.’ East Coast Lows draw strong, moisture-laden winds across the coast, which cause heavy rain to fall when they are uplifted by the hills and ranges that run parallel to the coast. On Monday night 24 Sydney suburbs incurred 100mm of rainfall, with Blacktown hit hardest, thanks to the latest East Coast Low. An estimated 100,000 homes are without power on Tuesday morning across Sydney, the Central Coast and Hunter region. Winds of at least 100km/h lashed parts of the east coast, causing this tree to fall on a car in East Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast, on Monday with a driver and passenger inside. They were treated for only minor injuries. They were treated for minor injuries by paramedics. The SES is preparing for damaging winds to hit parts of NSW over the next two days . A pedestrian is drenched while crossing  the street in the Sydney central business district during heavy rain on Monday . And a floodwater rescue operation is underway in Hunter area where there have been wind gusts of up to 125km/h - levels recorded in category two cyclones. State Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Steve Pearce told the ABC on Tuesday the police and NSW Fire and Rescue had been called in to help the SES on the 2400 call-outs they've received so far, with many more expected in daylight when people can see the damage around their homes. 'We've had 24 hours of relentless gale-force winds. I haven't seen this wind damage for years,' Mr Pearce said. Some have speculated this week’s East Coast Low will be the worst in five years, while meteorologist with Weatherzone Rob Sharpe told the Sydney Morning Herald: ‘This is going to be our most significant east coast low since spring.’ ‘The last major one that has affected Newcastle was in 2007. East Coast Lows were common in the 1970s but became less common in the 90s,’ Mr White said. A ship makes its way out to sea in Sydney on Monday. The Bureau of Meteorology has been issued for Sydney Closed Waters, the Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast, Illawarra Coast, Batemans Coast and Eden Coast . The SES had responded to about 15 jobs on Monday morning, mainly in Sydney metro area . ‘If it is to the north of Newcastle the max effect occurs all the way down to Wollongong, which is in the vicinity of the nation where most people live so it causes the most damage.’ In June 2007 bulk carrier Pasha Bulker ran aground near Newcastle amid wind gusts up to 124km/h. Other notable east coast lows occurred in October 2004, when there were mean wave heights off Sydney of 5m with a maximum height of about 10m. In August 1998, more than 300mm of rain fell over four days in Sydney and Illawarra, 420mm at Beaumont and 401mm at Kangaroo Valley. In May 1974, 165km/h gust at the Newcastle Nobbies saw bulk carrier the Sygna run aground. And in August 1857, the Dunbar wrecked at South Head killing 121, with only one person surviving. A commuter wades through a flooded train station in Sydney's central business district on Tuesday morning amid wild weather . Winds as powerful as a category two cyclones have lashed the Hunter region of New South Wales, with the SES is receiving 200 calls an hour as wild weather continues to hit large parts of the state . TUESDAY . WEDNESDAY . THURSDAY . FRIDAY . SATURDAY . Pedestrians shelter under umbrellas from heavy rain in Sydney on Monday. Rain and damaging winds averaging 55 to 70 km/h with gusts to about 100 km are forecast to develop along the coastal fringe of the Sydney Metropolitan, Hunter and Illawarra regions . Snow has started to fall at Perisher in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales . Perisher will see a snow shower or two on Monday with a maximum temperature of three degrees celcius . On Tuesday there will be a 30 per cent chance of a snow shower with temperatures expected to sit between -1 and 3 degrees . The first major snowfall of the year has happened at the ski fields at Thredbo, in southern New South Wales near the Victoria border . The area's forecast says to expect possible snow showers in areas above 1200m and temperatures between -2 and 3 degrees .
target: Main problem was that the Bureau of Meteorology could not forecast exactly where the storm would form .
  Storm was forecast to gather between Port Macquarie and Newcastle, but it formed just north of Newcastle .
  It then covered 150km south from Newcastle to Wollongong where a third of Australia’s population live .
  When the storm hit it caused the maximum amount of destruction because of it being a huge suburban area .
  Budget cuts also meant the Bureau of Meteorology did not have as many resources at its disposal .
  'It’s just economics. Weather balloons can now only be used in a limited number of places,' says climate specialist .
  Emergency services admitted on Tuesday they were shocked by the severity of the storm .
  Their teams were overwhelmed by a weather system that changed very rapidly .
  This weather system usually moves away after 12 hours but this one is going to stick around for 24-36 hours .