Australia Weather News

Three women have been hit by lightning in the New South Wales southern highlands as severe storms hit the state for a second day, with parts of Sydney and Wollongong hammered by large hailstones.

Three severe thunderstorms swept the state's east coast on Saturday afternoon, with the State Emergency Service (SES) receiving more than 650 calls for help.

Sue Pritchard from the SES said one of the hardest-hit areas was north-west of Sydney.

"Those storm cells that have come through have impacted heavily around the Kellyville, Rouse Hill and Castle Hill area," she said.

People took to social media to share photos of large hail, which damaged several cars and was described by one Twitter user as the "biggest hail I've ever seen".

Three women, aged in their 60s, were sitting on a park bench at Corbett Gardens in Bowral when they were struck by a bolt of lightning.

They have been taken to hospital, with one woman suffering serious burns to her body and the other two treated for shock.

The thunderstorms came a day after wild weather left thousands of homes in Sydney's north and on the New South Wales Central Coast facing days without power.

The BOM's duty forecaster Steph Spackman said Saturday's storms were moving quickly.

"These thunderstorms are moving across the Sydney basin at a pretty good cracking pace of about 60 kilometres an hour and we do have a cell-based warning just to the east of Penrith," she said.

"We also have a very dangerous storm near Bowral with the possibility of destructive winds."

Ms Spackman said the storm over the Illawarra was very large and dangerous.

"Everybody out there please be careful and take the proper precautions," she said.

"We still have more instability over the Blue Mountains so once this passes over there is a possibility of more storms later this afternoon and evening."

Residents are being advised to clean gutters, remove outside furniture, place cars under cover and shelter inside with any pets when the storms hit.

After Friday's storm, the SES received 625 calls for assistance with fallen trees, branches and powerlines coming down on roads and houses mostly across Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter.

Hail, heavy rain and gusts of wind up to 109 kilometres per hour battered the region, leaving more than 40,000 homes in eastern New South Wales without power earlier this morning.

Ausgrid said it was still working to restore power to 3,000 customers on Sydney's northern beaches and the Central Coast and 2,000 customers in the Hunter and Newcastle regions.

However, by the evening, Ausgrid said all but a few customers had has power restored.