A severe thunderstorm has swept through Sydney, spinning up damaging winds and dumping heavy rain after producing hail further west.
The weather front was one of four that rolled in from the west towards the NSW coast just before 8.30pm today, with Wollongong, Gosford and areas inland of Newcastle also in the firing line.
The Bureau of Meteorology warned the severe storms in Sydney could bring flash flooding as they swept in through Parramatta, the airport, the CBD and eventually Bondi Beach.
The Bureau of Meteorology earlier issued a storm warning for multiple states and territories and said “very dangerous” storms were rolling across the ACT, while large parts of NSW and Victoria were also bracing for a severe bout of storms. The NSW South Coast and areas further west of Sydney were off the hook by 8.30pm
Sydney Airport, Scone, Tamworth, Dubbo, Cowra and several other centres copped wind gusts of more than 100km/h.
Further west, several towns including Mandurama, Araluen and Perisher Valley copped about 30 millimetres of rain in half an hour.
Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney, Parramatta, Armidale and Tamworth were also on alert for large hail after 4-centimetre hailstones fell outside of Wellington, near Dubbo.
A broader warning was issued for people in the Hunter, Metropolitan and parts of the Mid North Coast, Illawarra, Central Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains and Northern Tablelands forecast districts.
Wind gusts reaching 106km/h were recorded in the Southern Tablelands this afternoon and some parts of the Riverina had huge rainfall topping 30 mm in just half an hour.
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There was also a severe thunderstorm warning with strong winds and heavy rain for people in parts of East Gippsland in Victoria, which was cancelled shortly after 6pm.
The severe weather follows a few days of wild conditions in Queensland.
Residents of Queensland‘s Southern Downs are assessing the damage after an icy summer storm smashed the region.
Louise and John Baronio were among the Stanthorpe residents who were hit heavily by the hail yesterday.
The roof of the couple’s family home was hit so hard that tiles were smashed.
“It came down with tremendous force,” Mr Baronio said.
“It went into all the light fittings because the tiles broke.”
Water poured into the couple’s home through the holes smashed in the roof.
Residents in Applethorpe were also forced to assess the damage today after apple-sized hail fell on the region.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned other communities could be in the firing line.
“Particularly areas south of Emerald today and over South East Queensland, including around the Darling Downs and parts of South Burnett could see storms this evening,” senior meteorologist Felim Hanniffy said.
