SYDNEY, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Authorities rescued more than 40 people on Thursday night after intense rainfall swept across Sydney, causing flash flooding and power outages.
The New South Wales State Emergency Service (NSW SES) said that it conducted 42 flood rescue operations in central and western Sydney on Thursday night into Friday morning.
The SES said it received 495 calls for assistance in metropolitan Sydney after some suburbs recorded over 100 millimeters of rainfall over a three-hour period.
The flash flooding triggered major road closures and power outages that affected thousands of properties.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) forecast that thunderstorms would continue across Sydney for most of Friday, bringing up to 70 mm of rainfall. ■
