More than 30,000 lightning strikes battered the Hunter Region as intense ‘super-cell’ storms hit the east coast overnight.

The storms brought wind gusts of up to 90km/h and golf ball-sized hailstones to parts of New South Wales’ north coast and Queensland’s south-east.

In NSW, the SES attended about 250 calls for help while in Queensland emergency workers were called to 46 incidents, mainly around Toowoomba, a spokesman said.

Five centimetre hailstones were see in Gresford in the Hunter Valley, while residents in Newcastle also reported a deluge.

The showers have continued on-and-off since, with commuters being warned to watch for possible flash flooding in the CBD.

Meanwhile, the Gosford to Newcastle train line is experiencing significant delays as a result of power lines that are down. Bus service is replacing trains.

But the good news is the wet weather is expected to ease throughout the day.

“Sydney will likely get less than 1mm of rain after 9am,” Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke told 9news.com.au.

“When most people are heading to work there will still be some showers around but they will be easing off.”

“It’s not looking nearly as wet as yesterday.”

Several areas had 10mm of rain dumped in just minutes, as the wild weather swept through. Residents were warned to be careful of lightning strikes.

A strong wind warning remains current for the Byron, Coffs and Macquarie Coasts.

The Hunter Valley received upwards of 50mm of rain during yesterday’s downpours, while Sydney picked up between 15 and 30mm.

Meanwhile in Queensland, heavy rain and hail have battered most of the state’s south-east overnight.

Damaging storms hit western Brisbane about 6.15pm, while wind gusts of around 90km/h and golf-ball size hailstones pelted the Warwick and Toowoomba areas.

While the worst of the storm has now passed, more than 14,000 residents were left without power.

All severe thunderstorm warnings have been cancelled, however strong wind warnings remain current for Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast waters.

Strong wind warnings were also issued for Victoria’s West and East Gippsland Coast and a broad sweep of South Australia and Tasmania’s coastline.

Severe thunderstorms rolled across the east coast of Australia yesterday, with large hailstones and heavy rainfall being dumped from Queensland down to Victoria.

Hailstones of up to five centimetres fell, with wind gusts nearing 90km/h already recorded and more storm activity hitting the area overnight.

Parts of NSW received a drenching yesterday as severe thunderstorms lashed the Hunter and mid north coast regions.

The latter areas were the most affected with destructive winds, heavy rainfall and hailstones ripping through the region, meteorologist Gabrielle Woodhouse said.

Some flights were delayed and cancelled at Canberra Airport as the storms passed over. The storm activity is expected to ease this morning.

The storms are due to a low-pressure trough currently lying over eastern NSW, with western and eastern winds converging.

It is from there that any supercell – a phenomenon bigger and more intense than regular storms – could develop.

Queensland has been smashed by a number of weather systems this spring, dumping record rainfall on parts of the state.

Earlier this week, “hail the size of marbles” fell in Toowoomba.

A twister-like cloud formation was also spotted moving ominously across the Darling Downs.

Bundaberg received 533 millimetres in rainfall last Friday, smashing its 1953 record of 281mm in a single day.

These storms come just days after the Bureau of Meteorology warned “La Niña” could wash out the east coast’s summer.

A “La Niña” weather pattern typically brings about heavy rainfall and flooding to eastern Australia and can also trigger cyclones.