NSW State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers recorded eight calls for assistance in Wagga and five call-outs in Griffith, Leeton and Tumut as trees fell across roads and roofs became inundated with water.

The storm was intense but brief with the Bureau of Meteorology recording wind gusts of 61km/h shortly before 8.40pm, only to drop off back to 20km/h by 9pm.

According to the weather office, Wagga copped six millimetres of rain in the space of 20 minutes, with 12.2mm recorded overall, as the storm moved in from the north-west.

Some centres in the Riverina received downpours of more than 20mm, including Tumbarumba, Deniliquin and Albury.

"There was a heavy deluge of rain in a short amount of time. People's gutters could not handle it," an SES Murrumbidgee Region spokeswoman said.

The electricity network couldn't handle it, either.

Essential Energy confirmed thousands of customers were affected in the southern region from 5pm onwards.

Particularly affected were homes and businesses in Tocumwal, East Albury, Holbrook and villages in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.

Tocumwal was the hardest hit with supply to about 1500 homes cut off for more than nine hours due to powerline damage.

Crews were able to restore power to all homes in the Riverina by 1.30am, Essential Energy said.

While the erratic weather brought headaches for some people, farmers have "mixed emotions", according to Upper Seeds senior agronomist Don Kirkpatrick.

"It's given a couple of people a bit of encouragement. It will freshen some lucerne up," he said.

But Mr Kirkpatrick said other farmers would see the downpour as a "nuisance" during harvest.

"All in all, it's just a couple days of harvest that have been upset," he said.

He said he had received no reports of farm infrastructure or crop damage in the past 24 hours.

Sunny weather is forecast for Wednesday, with a maximum of 27 degrees and some light winds.