Sydney: Flash flooding hit parts of Sydney after the heaviest rainfall in a decade to hit the Australian city, officials said on Saturday, in a wild storm that felled trees and caused widespread blackouts.
Almost 100 millimetres (four inches) of rain fell in little more than an hour in some parts of the city, a weather bureau spokesman said, turning streets to rivers and leaving scores of people stranded.
"For the city (centre) we recorded 65 mills of rainfall in the evening, and that's about a one in 5-10 year event," he said.
More than 1,000 people called emergency services requiring rescue or to report damage from the surging waters, which brought down trees and caused the roof of a popular city nightspot to cave in.
"It was one of our busiest storm response nights for several years," a fire rescue spokesman said.
The torrential rains cut power to a number of regions, blacking out traffic signals in the city's central shopping and business district.
Forecasters warned of further floods on Saturday night, as a second storm gathered.
"Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected to cause flash flooding in western parts (of New South Wales state) this afternoon and evening," the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, February 13, 2010, 12:06