Large hail, heavy rain hits Sydney as severe storms roll through
Sydney, the Central Coast and Wollongong were smashed by summer storms on Tuesday night with intense winds, rain and hail lashing suburbs.
NSW
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Parts of Western Sydney and the Southern Highlands were smashed by summer storms on Tuesday night, with intense winds, rain and hail lashing suburbs.
The wild weather slammed NSW with state emergency services responding to 160 statewide incidents, with 70 of them coming from Penrith and Blacktown.
The Camden region bore the brunt of one storm front just after 8pm - the torrent turning streets into impromptu rivers and lawns white under a blanket of hail.
Suburbs on the southwest outskirts, like Razorback and Douglas Park, saw hail the size of golf balls.
Emergency services responded to three calls for help after vehicles got caught in floodwaters, all people were rescued uninjured.
NSW was bombarded with an estimated 30,000 lightning strikes hitting everywhere between the South Coast to Sydney and up to the Hunter Valley.
SES coordinator of duty operations, Ashleigh Pearson, said they witnessed severe storms hit Sydney since a warning was issued late Tuesday afternoon.
A SES unit raced to the rescue in Cox Ave, Kingswood after receiving reports that one car had been trapped in floodwaters.
“By the time the unit got there, there were a couple of other cars that had driven into the same floodwaters,” Ms Pearson said.
“All people are out and safe.”
Orangeville resident Ken Rudd said it was like a “mini tornado” had hit the Macarthur region when the storm rolled in.
“I could see the sky building this afternoon and it just looked different, and boy was it ever,” he said.
“The wind was strong, and it hit pretty hard. I haven’t even looked outside to see the mess. It was wild.”
Mr Rudd has lived in the region for his whole life, and at 75 years old he said this was the worst storm he could recollect.
“The hail piled up on the lawn and there are branches and leaves scattered everywhere,” he said.
“We stood out on the verandah, we had a tin roof and it was very loud so you could tell it was hail and it caught our attention.”
Storm cells across the state simultaneously smashed the Mossvale and Berry regions in the Southern Highlands as well as Penrith in Western Sydney and parts of the Hunter Valley.
Sydneysiders will breathe a sigh of relief with conditions expected to ease drastically throughout Wednesday, setting up the city for a perfect Australia day.
According to BOM, there is a chance of showers closer to this evening, and a chance of a thunderstorm during this afternoon and evening. Light winds becoming east to northeasterly at 15 to 25km/h in the early afternoon then easing throughout the night.
Temperatures are set to hit highs of 32 degrees on Australia day, with only a slight chance of showers in the afternoon and evening.
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