| A second person has died during the Sydney storms which have lashed the city and surrounding regions on Wednesday, delivering a month’s worth of rain in two hours.
On Wednesday afternoon a State Emergency Services volunteer collapsed and died while attending a job in the Illawarra.
“This is a tragic event and my deepest sympathies are with the man’s family and friends,” minister for emergency services Troy Grant said in a statement.
One police officer also broke her leg when a tree fell on her police car as she and her partner were at North Ryde where drivers had unsuccessfully tried to get through a flooded road about 6.45am.
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| Meanwhile at least a dozen people have been rescued, a supermarket’s walls burst with water and almost 100 flights were cancelled as heavy rain caused flash flooding across Sydney.
The city copped more than a month’s worth of rain in less than two hours on Wednesday morning as a series of severe thunderstorms hit the coast between Newcastle and Wollongong.
More than 105mm fell at Observatory Hill in Sydney’s city centre by 9am – eclipsing the November average of 83.8mm. Mosman recorded 118mm to 9am while Chatswood had 105mm, including 66mm within an hour.
Flooding also forced the cancellation of trains between Sydenham and Campsie and light rail services, while ferries between Parramatta and Sydney Olympic Park were cancelled.
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Council workers clear a drain on Railway Terrace in Lewisham during wild weather in Sydney. Photograph: Dean Lewins/EPA
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Dozens of roads across the city were shut owing to flash flooding.
More than 4,000 properties were without power across the city, mostly in the central business district and the northern suburbs, with lightning strikes and strong winds damaging lines.
A severe thunderstorm warning remained current for the Sydney metro region and parts of the Hunter, Illawarra, south coast and central tablelands.
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