A massive thunderstorm pounded much of Sydney last night with hail,and torrential rain city wide says or Australian based reporter Claire Martin.

Ms Martin, who lives in Sydney, says the hail was “crazy” and expected some damage by day break today.

At 11pm NZT last night thunderstorms stretched from several hundred kilometres south east of Sydney to around one thousand kilometres north west towards Alice Springs.

Ms Martin says it was the loudest thunder she had heard in some time.  “It was deafening…completely drowned out the television or any conversation you were having”.

“The thunder was so loud it was like an earthquake…and the whole house shook”.

Image above / Sheet lightning last night in Sydney – Brad Heap

The thunderstorms were so strong even lightning trackers used at WeatherWatch.co.nz based in New Zealand were detecting a couple hundred flashes an hour.

Meanwhile Australian weather website Weatherzone.com.au said hail the size of golf balls pounded some suburbs along with flash flooding.

Weatherzone says the downpour caused temperatures to drop from 31 degrees to 16 degrees.

Homepage image – File, Colin Krippner