According to meteorologist Olenka Rudewych at the Bureau of Meteorology, Bellambi received the highest amount of rainfall, with 139mm recorded since 9am yesterday.

Albion Park recorded 122mm and further south Kiama got 135mm of rain and Nowra 77.2mm.

Areas on the South Coast like Batemans Bay and Merimbula recorded much lower falls as the worst of ex tropical cyclone Oswald crossed land and passed out to sea rather than continue south.

Ms Rudewych said the bulk of the drenching some suburbs experienced came after midnight as the low moved across the region.

‘‘Generally we saw falls around the 80-150mm mark around the Illawarra,’’ Ms Rudewych said.

‘‘Further inland we’re looking at  40-60mm. With this system we got the rainfall we expected but the strong winds didn’t eventuate like we expected, which is a good thing. So we didn’t get those gusts of 100km/h wind that we expected.’’

The bureau still has a severe weather warning in place for damaging winds with peak gusts around 100 km/h and heavy rain which may lead to flash flooding for parts of the region.

But Ms Rudewych said that warning was a precautionary measure and that threat will ease during the day as ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald moves further out to sea.

The State Emergency Service (SES) responded to 35 call outs overnight in addition to 100 jobs they had yesterday as a result of the heavy rains.

One driver was rescued from their car at first light this morning at Albion Park.

SES region controller Greg Murphy said the driver became stranded in the flood water on the Illawarra Highway and was rescued without incident.

‘‘Most of our jobs were trees down and threatening to fall, roofs leaking and minor property flooding,’’ he said.

‘‘We’re expecting conditions to ease and the Bureau of Meteorology is working on a new warning indicating winds are going to turn about 180 degrees and coming from the south as the cyclone moves offshore.

‘‘This provides a risk as well as any trees that have been weakened are likely to topple as the wind changes direction.’’

Mr Murphy warned residents there was still some localised flooding and people should not to walk, ride or drive through flood waters.

‘‘If it’s flooded, forget it,’’ he said.

In a storm or flood emergency, contact the SES on 132 500