Sydney marks its wettest year on record, smashing past 1950 high-water mark with three months to spare

Severe weather warning in place for state's inland regions as ongoing deluge sees flooding on rivers in west of NSW

• Follow the latest updates live with our live blog
• Get our free news app, morning email briefing or daily news podcast

Sydney is officially experiencing its wettest year on record as widespread drenching rain puts many parts of western New South Wales on flood alert.

The previous annual record of 2,194mm of rain, which had stood since 1950, was broken at 12.30pm on Thursday after 27.2mm of rain fell at Sydney's Observatory Hill Bureau of Meteorology station since 9am.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning