Roof collapses at Mt Druitt Westfield as storm batters Sydney

Stunned shoppers were filmed fleeing a Western Sydney Westfield as wild wind, hail and heavy rain led to a dramatic roof collapse.

The state’s northeast is bracing for more wild weather as a major clean-up effort begins after heavy rain, hail and a tornado lashed NSW.

The fast-moving storm caused widespread damage on Thursday, triggering a huge clean-up effort with the State Emergency Service receiving hundreds of calls for help.

It comes as the Bureau of Meteorology warns more storms are on the way with a severe storm warning for damaging winds and large hail in place for the northeast.

A large storm rolls across the Central Coast from the west. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

Huge hailstones were recorded throughout Sydney. Picture: Twitter

For the rest of the state, conditions have started to ease.

“Showers and storms forecast to continue for many places, but mostly easing today with more settled weather by Sunday,” a BOM spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, a clean-up is underway in Mount Druitt where the storm partially collapsed the roof of a local Westfield.

Water was gushing into the aisles of nearby retailers and flooding parts of the floor, creating dangerous and slippery conditions for bystanders rushing to the exits.

“Our centre team are working to support impacted retail partners and customers at this time,” the Westfield spokesperson told 7NEWS.

“Our team is also working with emergency services onsite to respond and review the thunderstorm damage.”

One pup enjoyed the hailstones brought by the wild weather. Picture: Twitter

Armidale is also busy cleaning-up rubble after a tornado blew roofs off houses and flipped cars.

The local council is out clearing trees and green waste as a result of the hail and tornado storm.

NSW SES spokesperson Danni Brown said multiple emergency services crews will be focusing on the suburbs worst-affected by the storms.

“The damage has been centred around Sydney with Penrith, Mt Druitt and Blacktown due to mostly hail and rain,” she said.

“The other focus will be Armidale so we’ve got 127 calls for help recorded in that area with reports of damage to roofs of homes, cars flipped and significant damage.”

Lighting strikes Sydney Airport. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

A break in the rain at Wetherill Park brought a rainbow. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Thick black clouds blanketed the city. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dylan Coker

NSW Fire and Rescue has established strike teams to help with the recovery.

In the 12 hours to 6pm on Thursday, BOM recorded 32,000 lightning strikes across Sydney and nearby surrounding areas.

Around 20,000 of those strikes occurred within the two-hour period, from 4pm to 6pm.

The wild weather had traffic on the M5 backing up from Greengrove to Padstow.

Accidents at Riverwood, and at Fairford Rd in Padstow contributed to the chaos.

Fire and Rescue NSW crews attended the scene to assess the damage.

The storm rolls in to Sydney on Thursday afternoon. Picture: Twitter

The storm brought heavy rain, large hail and a tornado warning. Picture: Twitter

Hailstones measuring up to 5cm have been reported across the state, including at Bellambi near Wollongong, as well as in suburbs near the Western Sydney region, including Werrington, Penrith, St Marys and Dean Park.

“We’ve had reports previously of 3cm to 5cm-sized hail in western NSW.

“It’s essentially a supercell event that caused a thunderstorm breakout (that) looks to be particularly dangerous.”

Residents across the state took to social media to share photos of the golf ball-sized hail that landed on their properties.