A woman has died in a car crash during wild weather that saw four people struck by lightning, caused major delays at Sydney Airport and sparked commuter chaos.
The 31-year-old woman died after her SUV collided with another in Narrabeen on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
The other driver, a man aged 51, was uninjured,
The crash took place after torrential rain hit the city, with a fierce storm tearing a hole in the main runway at the airport.
The damage caused flights to be cancelled as well as sparking a series of delays.
Meanwhile four people who were sheltering from the rain under trees in the Royal Botanic Garden were struck by lightning.
Torrential rain hit Sydney on Monday, causing chaos for commuters
Two men and two women were rushed to hospital after being injured by lightning strikes while under a tree in the Botanic Gardens at about 12.45pm.
A man in his late teens and a woman in her 20s were taken to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
A man and woman aged in their 30s were taken to St Vincent’s Hospital.
The city was hit with around 75,000 lightning strikes in three hours.
The wild weather also sparked widespread chaos on the train network, including damaging equipment at Milsons Point.
The T1 North Shore Line was shut down as a result with no trains running between North Sydney and Gordon.
The T9 Northern will have significant delays during the evening as a result, which will also impact the T2 Inner West and T3 Bankstown Lines due to train flow.
The delays caused heavily congested platforms at Wynyard, Town Hall and Central on Monday night.
Sydney was lashed with heavy rain on Monday as a severe thunderstorm warning was issued
The wild weather damaged a runway at Sydney Airport, causing lengthy delays (pictured)
The deluge plunged the rail network in chaos just hours before the peak evening rush
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued across the Greater Sydney region, as many suburban areas faced possible flash flooding.
More rain is due on Tuesday, with another storm possible in the afternoon.
Temperature will rise to 26C as clouds linger over the city.
Earlier, the storm delayed Taylor Swift’s private plane by up to 30 minutes as the popstar flew from Melbourne to Sydney.
Fans were seen sheltering under umbrellas as they arrive at Sydney Airport to welcome Taylor Swift
Swift’s jet was delayed by half an hour as the popstar arrived in Sydney on Monday (pictured: eager fans wait to snatch a glimpse of her at Sydney airport)
The hitmaker was spotted boarding her private jet in Melbourne earlier in the day wearing a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII Champs baseball cap in tribute to her boyfriend Travis Kelce (pictured)
Swift and her team were seen departing Melbourne at about midday on Monday ahead of her next four-day run of shows in her Eras Tour in the Harbour City. The mega-star landed safely at 1.25pm.
After landing, she is expected to be taken to a penthouse at Crown in Barangaroo.
The pop superstar, 34, will perform four shows in Sydney from Friday before she heads off to Singapore.
The Shake It Off hitmaker wore a dark mini skirt paired with a red T-shirt that revealed a glimpse of midriff for her flight.
She paid tribute to her boyfriend Travis Kelce by wearing a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII Champs baseball cap after his team’s big win earlier this month.
More than 13,000 homes and businesses in Sydney’s northern suburbs lost power on Monday
A Coles in Balgowlah is seen in total darkness after a major storm hit the city on Monday
Swift was accompanied by her entourage as she climbed the stairs of her Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft, which boasts a double bed and fine dining cabin.
More than 13,000 homes in the city’s northern beaches lost power just before 1pm on Monday as heavy rain, strong winds and lightning lashed the city.
Residents in Fairlight, Manly, Balgowlah, Balgowlah Heights, Seaforth, Manly Vale, Killarney Heights and Mosman were plunged into darkness were all impacted.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for heavy rainfall, damaging winds and large hailstones for much of NSW.
The heaviest downpours were recorded in Kings Langley, in Sydney’s north-west, which had 48mm of rain in an hour.
FREAD MORE: Taylor Swift shows off her legs in a mini skirt as she is seen for the first time in public in – and pays tribute to boyfriend Travis Kelce with one special accessory
Swift paid tribute to her boyfriend Travis Kelce by wearing a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII Champs baseball cap after his team’s big win earlier this month