Three people have been rescued after wild storms hit New South Wales, causing flash flooding and what one man described as a mini tornado.

A storm front passed through the South Coast, Tablelands and Southern Highlands and continued through Sydney last night.

In Wollongong, one person was rescued from flash flooding on a major road.

Meanwhile at Broken Hill in the state’s far west, volunteers rescued two people from a car that was stranded by flash flooding.

The weather bureau warned Sydney could experience flash flooding as the storm moved through the city and towards the Central Coast.

The owner of the Bargo Hotel in the Southern Highlands, Charlie Fenton, described the storm that ripped off the roof of his pub as a “mini tornado”.

The roof flew off the pub and landed on nearby train tracks, taking power lines down with it.

Mr Fenton said the storm did a lot of damage.

“I am in the hotel – we have had the power turned off, we have got the police [and] the SES here and they are trying to tarp the hotel for me just to ensure the we don’t receive any more water damage,” he said.

“But I think we might be a little bit late for that – we have got a lot of water damage and it is coming down.”

The State Emergency Service (SES) said it received calls about wind damage, especially from fallen trees.

The bureau issued a severe storm warning on Thursday afternoon and said further severe weather was likely on Friday.

“A trough will move slowly through south-east NSW this evening [Thursday] and Friday morning,” it said in a statement.

“Localised heavy rain and thunderstorms are anticipated with this system, particularly about the ranges and including the ACT.”

“A small-scale, relatively weak low pressure system is likely to form off the southern NSW coast tomorrow [Friday] and may bring some localised heavy rain for the South Coast.

“There is a 75 per cent chance of minor flooding as well as local flash flooding to develop along the Queanbeyan [and] Molonglo Rivers in the early hours of Friday morning.”

– Weatherzone/ABC