Weather News

Severe storms flood Sydney

Ben Domensino, Tuesday February 7, 2017 - 11:56 AEDT

Flash flooding inundated the streets of Sydney this morning as the heaviest rain in six months fell in less than one hour.

Slow-moving severe storms developed over the Sydney Basin at around 10am today, prompting a warning for heavy rain and damaging winds.

The first storm struck south of the Harbour and produced more than 40mm in one hour around Marrickville and Alexandria. Canterbury received an impressive 16mm in the space of 10 minutes. These rain rates were too intense for the city streets to cope with, causing gutters to quickly overflow onto roads and sidewalks.

Another storm that developed near Parramatta dropped 26mm in one hour at Toongabbie before moving towards the northern beaches.

A number of weather stations in the Sydney Basin recorded their heaviest rain in six months within an hour, including Observatory Hill (41mm) and Canterbury (47mm).

Wind gusts reached as high as 72km/h at Fort Denison on the Harbour and 74km/h at Wattamolla in the Royal National Park.

While the rain produced dangerous flash flooding, it also brought some welcome relief from the recent heat for Sydneysiders. The temperature dropped to 21 degrees in the city during this morning's storm, it's lowest level in almost a week.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2017

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