Wind knocks out power to thousands in NSW

Thousands of homes are without power due to gale-force winds raging across the state.

Damaging winds have reportedly knocked out power to more than 11,000 homes and businesses.

Ausgrid said about 1400 homes and businesses had lost power around Epping and Beecroft while Endeavour Energy is reporting power outages from the Hunter region to the South Coast.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for strong and damaging winds on Tuesday afternoon to hit parts of Sydney and the coast, from Newcastle to Ulladulla.

Winds reaching 100km/h were forecast to hit Sydney and parts of the NSW coast and winds up to 110km/h were expected to tear through the Snowy Mountains.