The Harbour City was lashed by wild winds, lightning and hail, after a "monster" thunderstorm tore through large swathes of northern Sydney shortly before 2pm on Tuesday.
By mid afternoon, trains had stopped running between Gordon and Berowra on the T1 North Shore Line and Central Coast and Newcastle Line due to urgent power supply repairs at Hornsby, and fallen trees on the tracks at Gordon.
The freak storm only lasted two minutes in parts of northern Sydney, but the wreckage will take days to clean up.
90km/h winds uprooted trees at Roseville Golf Club, forcing golfers to find cover in the clubhouse.
Matt O'Sullivan from Roseville Golf Club said the ferocious weather had left a trail of destruction.
"We've lost about 20 to 30 trees., There's heaps of debris to clean up and we'll have to close for at least a couple of days," he said.
Ausgrid spokesman Shaun Fewings said lightning was responsible for the widespread power outages, which left 51,500 homes in the Greater Sydney, Lake Macquarie, and Central Coast areas with power.
"A lot of it is related to lightning strikes as well as damaging wind gusts," he said.
"Obviously we have a lot of crews out there and it looks like north and south of Sydney are hardest hit."
Meanwhile, Endeavour Energy confirmed 25,000 homes and businesses were without power on Tuesday afternoon.
"Emergency crews are working to restore power to 25,000 customers after severe storms swept across Western Sydney and caused 190 electrical hazards," a statement from Endeavour said.
Did a hurricane just come through Bondi? #sydneystorm pic.twitter.com/iL822p8tuU
โ kleinesblond (@kleinesblond) November 26, 2019
"Power is currently out to all customers supplied from major substations at Macquarie Fields & Wisemans Ferry."
Replacement buses were being organised ahead of peak commuter hours but it is feared there will be delays during that busy time.
Commuters are urged to delay their trip or allow plenty of extra travel time, listen to announcements and check indicator boards.
Before the storm hit, Sydney was again cloaked in a blanket of thick bushfire smoke and the temperature in the CBD had soared to 35.2 degrees by midday.
By the time the storm had swept through an hour later, the mercury had plummeted 6.3 degrees to 28.9 degrees.
More scenes of destruction in Gordon. #sydneystorm pic.twitter.com/IyUSqgJadX
โ Dan Abrahams (@_danabrahams) November 26, 2019
WOW! Best shot of #lightning I've seen in a long time, was in New South Wales, Australia Sunday evening 24th November! Epic shot by David Diehm Photography #severeweather #ExtremeWeather pic.twitter.com/ipL9GNw0xh
โ WEATHER/ METEO WORLD (@StormchaserUKEU) November 26, 2019
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