In Australia, at least 3 people are dead, and hundreds evacuated from their homes from a massive weekend storm. The wild weather packed heavy rains and winds as it pounded the country’s southeast coast.

Robert MConnell didn’t have to explain to his workers - why no one was going inside the beachside club in the Sydney suburb of Collaroy. Not after the massive surf ripped away a part of the building - and scattered it into pieces.

"This is devastating particularly for us, we are a nice little community club and we try to do our best with a 100 year old building and try and give back to the community so," said Robert MConnell.

"I’m standing here looking at a club I’m a member of where I can normally sit out and have a meal and a drink and look out over the ocean, well the balcony is no longer there so I won’t be sitting there for a while," said Elaine Mawhinney, resident.

Just metres down the beach.Lifeguards who normally patrolled the waters were busy clearing the sand and debris that pounded their surf club.

"You hear the waves every night but with the rain it muffled it and I didn’t realise how bad it was until I got up here this morning," said Barry Conway, resident.

Onlookers were punished for getting too close from a storm that dropped record amounts of rain across parts of New South Wales.

Umbrellas proved useless as roads were turned into rivers, trees toppled, and power was knocked out for tens of thousands of homes.

Emergency workers were kept busy - with more than 250 water rescues, and almost 10,000 calls for help.

Meteorologists say all of this was caused by a series of perfect storm events, including waves that took an unusual direction pounding strait onto beaches along the east coast, and some of the highest tides of the year.

Despite the damage, Robert MConnell remained optimistic.

"We’ll get back from this, it’s just another hurdle, another challenge," Robert MConnell said.

Emergency crews say it could take days to restore power to those areas hardest hit by the storm.