A large hole has opened on a busy CBD street, forcing the closure of a nearby school and cutting water supply to nearby businesses. It comes after the city was hit by flash flooding on Thursday night, triggering dozens of rescues across the metropolitan area.

A burst water pipe is thought to have created the hole at the intersection of Prince Albert Road and St Mary’s Road, next to St Mary’s Cathedral and Hyde Park. It prompted Sydney Water to cut off water supply, blocking water access for toilets and other essential services for nearby buildings.

The front wheels of a Coles delivery truck fell into the hole on Friday morning at about 7am, prompting an urgent rescue effort from at least two towing trucks.

Council and Sydney Water workers have closed entry to St Mary’s Road from Prince Albert Road, as they plug the large hole. A small excavator dug mud and asphalt from the hole, blocked by several traffic cones. Buses have been diverted from the area.

St Mary’s Cathedral College, the K-12 co-education school adjoining the church, sent its high school students home on Friday morning after consulting Sydney Catholic Schools.

Principal Kerrie McDiarmid asked parents of primary school students to collect their children as soon as possible, though they would continue to be supervised until 3pm.

“We have just been informed that a sinkhole has developed in our local area, and as such Sydney Water will be shutting off water supply to the affected area which includes the College,” she wrote to parents shortly before 11.30am on Friday.

“We apologise for this inconvenience, however this is something that is out of our control.”

Wet roads have made driving treacherous, with westbound travellers on Anzac Bridge facing delays after a collision early on Friday afternoon.

The crash on Anzac Bridge on Friday.© Sam Mooy

The multi-vehicle collision took place just after 1pm, but three blocked lanes were cleared and traffic moving again by about 1.55pm, a Transport for NSW spokeswoman said.

The incident followed a period of flash flooding on Thursday night, during which more than 100 millimetres of rain fell across Sydney’s city and south-west in three hours, triggering 42 urgent rescues and 560 calls for assistance across the metropolitan area.

Swimmers do laps at the Andrew (Boy) Charlton pool despite the rain on Friday morning.© KATE GERAGHTY

Umbrellas came out of storage on Friday morning.© Audrey Richardson

NSW State Emergency Service Assistant Commissioner Sean Kearns said the most-affected suburbs included Strathfield, Greenacre, Fairfield East, Yagoona and Chester Hill.

“The NSW SES and our emergency service partners completed more than 40 flood rescues, mostly across South West Sydney, including vehicles trapped in floodwaters along major transport routes,” Assistant Commissioner Kearns said.

The Sydney CBD recorded 83 millimetres of rain on Thursday night, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, as the city braces for further showers on Friday afternoon.

Meteorologist Jonathan How said the thunderstorms “dumped lots of rain” across Sydney, including up to 122 millimetres at Lidcombe, but was “fairly localised”, hitting some suburbs far harder than others.

“If you were right under the storm, you got smashed, but if you were away from the storm you didn’t see as much rainfall … it was a compact but very powerful storm,” How said.

While rain showers would probably persist through Friday afternoon and evening, they would be relatively light, the Bureau said.

Emergency services responded to 34 calls in Strathfield, 21 in Greenacre and 13 in Fairfield East.

Significant rainfall forced residents in Spring Street, Fairfield, to be evacuated as their properties were inundated, while six people were rescued at a park in nearby Vine Street, after they became stranded by rising floodwaters.