A major clean-up is underway in several parts of New South Wales after heavy rain lashed much of the coast and some inland areas including Dubbo on Thursday.
The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) received 1,337 calls for help and conducted 65 flood rescues across Sydney, the Illawarra and Central Coast during the extreme weather event.
SES State Duty Commander Colin Malone said more SES volunteers and emergency crews would be out in the field again on Friday.
"We will continue to respond and assist communities and work through the impacts of this rain," he said.
In parts of Sydney, the Northern Beaches, Central Coast and the Hunter there were 437 calls for help.
Illawarra damage widespread
Further south in the Illawarra and South Coast there were 378 incidents including flood rescues from vehicles, people stuck in buildings and landslides.
On the busy Lawrence Hargrave Drive north of Wollongong, a landslip caused a bus full of passengers to become stranded.
Fortunately, there were no injuries.
Transport for NSW said it also had crews assessing damage on major roads including rock falls on the M1 Princes Motorway northbound just after the Berkeley on-ramp.
Twenty-one schools were impacted in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven with six sending students home early.
Flooded creeks and drains caused homes to become inundated in Bellambi and Thirroul.
The community of Coalcliff was blocked in both directions by landslips, with locals opening up their homes to stranded travellers and offering support for several hours until the SES could re-open the road.
Hail, wind pound Dubbo
In the state's west, there were 239 incidents in Dubbo, most involving leaking roofs, water damage and some floodwater rescues.
Residents reported rain and hail for about half an hour at 4:30pm which left many without power overnight.
Homes were inundated as 100kph winds uprooted trees and roofs.
Locals told the ABC it was the worst storm to hit the city since a tornado swept through Dubbo in 2015.
Mayor Mathew Dickerson said a tree fell on his house.
"I have a neighbour's tree on my house at the moment," he said.
"My poor wife was trying to get in touch with me while I was in a council meeting in Wellington.
"She contacted the SES, and someone arrived last night and cut the tree back enough that we could walk in and out of the house. I can't thank them enough."
Power crews have also been working through the night to restore power to hundreds of homes in Dubbo.
Central Coast highest rainfall
The Central Coast received the highest rainfall in the state last night, with 149 millimetres falling at Erina Heights.
The beachside suburb of Terrigal was hit hard, with many businesses in the town centre inundated with water.
Travel business owner Peter Hosper said it was the third flooding incident in recent years, but this was the most intense.
"Last night was definitely the worst we've ever seen .. it was actually quite scary," he said.
"We had a staff member in the office and the water came in at such a rate, she was literally trapped in the office, and the waters have kept rising to a height where the cars parked you couldn't actually see the wheels."
The local SES received more than 200 calls for help and Central Coast Chief Inspector Rolf Garda said people were desperate for sand bags.
"The water came down so dramatically, the volume of water was unbelievable. I think up at at Lisarow the creek up there went up two metres in basically half an hour."
"A lot of cars caught on Wyong Road with water up to their doors, ceilings collapsing, water coming into houses."
