Some forty-five thousand homes across Sydney’s eastern suburbs have been hit by power outages amid a heat wave in the coastal city in southeastern Australia, with media reports of residents being trapped in lifts and one hospital losing electricity.

Distribution company Ausgrid said that emergency crews were investigating the cause of the widespread outage, which is uncommon in Sydney’s up market beachside neighbourhoods.

Power was lost to homes and businesses in suburbs from beachfront Bondi to the well-heeled areas of Double Bay and Woollahra.

Authorities warned drivers to take care as dozens of traffic lights had been blacked out.

Meanwhile, Doctors, businessmen and other workers have protested in major cities across Venezuela, calling for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the country and for President Nicolas Maduro to step down.

Supporters of opposition leader Mr Juan Guaido, who last week swore himself in as the interim president, waved flags and banners.

Mr Guaido’s proclamation came after the opposition-controlled National Assembly declared President Maduro’s second term illegitimate.

Several smaller protests were held throughout the capital Caracas including in the neighbourhood of Altamira in the eastern part of the city.

In La Candelaria, in the centre of the city, protesters marched to the JM de los Rios Hospital, a pediatric centre. Some nurses and doctors left the health centre and joined the protest.