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Rough night ahead: Parts of NSW warned to expect more fierce weather as storms continue

Sydney can expect more fierce weather as a storm cell is expected to bring more thunder, lightning and rain until Thursday morning.

If the quickly darkening skies weren't notice enough, the Bureau of Meteorology has issued warnings for several areas in the city and surrounding regions.

As well as the Sydney basin, there are severe thunderstorm warnings in place for the Hunter, Illawarra, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, Central West Slopes and Plains and parts of the South Coast, North West Slopes and Plains, South West Slopes, Riverina and Lower Western Forecast Districts.

The thunderstorms could last throughout Wednesday and into early Thursday morning if the weather plays out as predicted, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

One of the most active storms approached western Sydney about 3pm, but the bureau expected the city to be drenched over several hours.

"What we're concerned about is heavy rainfall, the potential for large hailstones and damaging wind gusts with that storm," forecaster Zach Berry-Porter told AAP.

The storm system dumped 23 millimetres of rain in 15 minutes at Warragamba on the eastern outskirts of the Blue Mountains.

"It's also intensified as it moved into Sydney so we could see the weather be even more severe than that," Mr Berry-Porter said.

The storm is expected to bring a southerly change to that should give some lift to the damp, humid air mass that has hung over the region for the past days.

The bureau forecasts that from Thursday there should be some relief from the rain, with reports that only a few showers are expected in coming days.

Wind gusts reached 85km/h at Cowra in the central west and Goulburn in the southern tablelands.

The bureau says even stronger gusts could be recorded in Sydney.

About 5000 homes were left without power in western Sydney and the Blue Mountains on Tuesday evening and the State Emergency Service received about 100 calls for help.

Conditions should settle by the end of the week.

- With AAP