It has been a wild 36 hours across eastern NSW as an intense East Coast Low brought destructive winds, heavy rain, mountain snow and thunderstorms. A band of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms initially begun on South coast yesterday morning, before moving through Sydney and the Hunter during the evening. Between about Regatta Point and Norah Head, there were widespread falls of 50-100mm in the 24 hours to 9am with some places receiving more than 150mm. Sydney was one of the hardest areas hit, with many southeastern suburbs collecting falls of 100-150mm. San Souci's 143mm was the heaviest rain seen in the Sydney suburb in 23 years, and for October in over 100 years. Canterbury picked up 121mm to 9am, its heaviest rain since 2001, with 100mm falling in less than three hours from 8pm. Similarly heavy rain created flooding in some suburbs, causing road closures and some people to become trapped in their cars and homes. Other significant totals included 147mm at Ulladulla, 171mm at Lake Conjola, 112mm at Vincentia and 127mm at Oatley. Winds really got cranking from around sunset yesterday, particularly between the Hunter coast and northern parts of the South Coast. Wind gusts reached 161km/h at Wattamolla in the Royal National Park, equivalent to category 2 cyclone strength. Gusts of 115km/h were also observed at Kurnell (the strongest in 9 years) and 106km/h at Sydney Airport (the strongest in two years). The low helped create wild surf, with wave heights reaching eight metres offshore Eden yesterday morning and almost five metres offshore Sydney. Along the beaches, wave heights of more than 3 metres have been observed. Cold air wrapping around the low also brought significant snowfalls to the Blue Mountains with up to 20cm reported in some parts around Blackheath. Snow depths of 10cm were reported at Lithgow while some flakes were even spotted around Bathurst. This is a stark contrast to last year which saw bushfires raging across the region. As the low moves further over the Tasman Sea today, conditions will ease significantly, with much calmer and drier conditions expected by tomorrow.