Wild storm lashes Sydney's west

Residents in Sydney's west and south are cleaning up after a wild storm lashed the area, causing widespread damage and cutting power to thousands of homes.

A fan sits in the stand during an electrical storm in a stadium in Sydney (AAP

A fan sits in the stand during an electrical storm in a stadium in Sydney (AAP)

A wild storm has lashed Sydney's west and south, causing widespread damage including flooding and car accidents, as well as pulling a roof onto train tracks.

More than 20,000 homes lost power when heavy rainfall, damaging winds and lightning rolled through after 7pm on Wednesday night, with authorities saying some would not be reconnected until Thursday.

A Bringelly family was forced to leave their home when their roof collapsed, while another piece of roof blew onto train tracks at Mount Druitt.

The NSW Fire and Rescue service received about 70 calls for help, mainly for fallen trees and powerlines, while also responding to motor vehicle accidents due to the conditions.

The SES fielded more than 150 calls for help.

Lightning strikes sparked blazes at Liverpool and Fairfield and fires in homes at Ryde, Canterbury and Rydalmere.

An SES spokesman said western and southern Sydney suburbs such as Campbelltown, Blacktown, Bankstown, Penrith and Mount Druitt were worst affected by winds and flooding.

Electricity was cut from the Leightonfield substation after a large tree fell on power lines, affecting about 5000 customers, an Ausgrid spokeswoman said

"There has been significant damage across the network," she told AAP.

"Crews will be making sure it's safe and then working to get it back as quickly as possible."

Lightning strikes caused most of the problems for the Endeavour Energy network, a spokesman said, with more than 20,000 customers losing power at the height of the storm.

"By 10pm tonight we restored over 10,000 of those but we've got 10,150 customers who are still off," the Endeavour Energy spokesman told AAP.

No major injuries have been reported.


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Source: AAP


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