A powerful spring storm brought torrents of rain and damaging winds to Sydney, Australia Tuesday night (local time). Meanwhile, its nearby mountains were blanketed by unusual October snow.

The Sydney Morning Herald, which described the storm as “epic”, reports 40 flood rescues from the deluge – mostly due to motorists stranded in standing water. Sydney Olympic Park received 2.5 inches of rain (63 mm) and Canterbury, a suburb just 6 miles to the southwest, nearly twice that amount, the Herald said.

Tropical storm force winds also buffeted the region. Wind gusts exceeded 60 mph in Sydney and reached 100 mph in Wattamolla – a coastal area to its south, the Herald noted.

Wow! The Sydney Doppler radar.. wind speeds have gone past blue and 'folded' back to red (>>90kph) #offthescale pic.twitter.com/BtFE9JqmpT — Tony Auden (@TonyAuden) October 14, 2014

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology issued numerous warnings for flooding and severe thunderstorms. “Destructive winds and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely,” the Bureau cautioned.

For a time, Sydney’s Airport closed due to high winds.

All flights in and out of Sydney airport are either cancelled, delayed or have been diverted due to current weather situation. — NSW Incident Alerts (@nswincidents) October 14, 2014

The storms knocked power out to 5,500 customers around Sydney, according to Sky News.

To Sydney’s west, in the Blue Mountains, up to 8 inches (20 cm) of snow fell, reports Yahoo7 News.

Tuesday marked the second straight day of unsettled weather in Sydney. On Monday, “a brief but menacing” storm passed through the city, said Business Insider.

The storminess resulted from a deep area of low pressure at high altitudes. Its associated cold air supported snow in the mountains and destabilized the atmosphere for heavy thunderstorms in milder locations near the coast.



European model shows high altitude low pressure system and cold pool near Sydney (WeatherBell.com)

Photos

Flooding

Water is rising in the M5 tunnel near Arncliffe pic.twitter.com/e22TDyGcT9 — Daniel Kildea (@Dan_kildea) October 14, 2014

Snow

@smh Blackheath.. Extraordinarily still putside. Now power has gone off. pic.twitter.com/Ru5zTwiPZW — Pat R (@bmpermie) October 14, 2014

Blackheath train station pic.twitter.com/38Vq33ZLhw — Lindsay Holmwood 🖤🧡❤️ (@auxesis) October 14, 2014

Spring in Australia. I can't even pic.twitter.com/pDpX6sxeUJ — Lindsay Holmwood 🖤🧡❤️ (@auxesis) October 14, 2014