Severe storms sweep through SE Queensland

Updated

Residents in south-east Queensland are mopping up after more wild weather on Sunday evening capped off a torrid weekend of severe weather.

Thunderstorms swept through the region as residents cleaned up after Saturday's storms that caused widespread damage.

Sunday's storm front hit the Brisbane CBD about 6:00pm AEST, with the weather bureau warning that severe thunderstorms would affect central and southern Queensland.

The bureau warned residents to expect destructive winds and heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding.

Many areas in the south-east were pummelled by hail, with some people likening the thick coverage of hail stones to snow.

More than 10,000 people were evacuated from the Harvest music festival at Brisbane's Botanic Gardens while the storm threatened, but were later ushered back in as the danger cleared.

Look back on the events as they happened. All times in AEST:

Key points Keep up to date with the latest warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology.

Severe thunderstorm warnings issued for Brisbane, Gympie, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Redland City Council areas.

Emergency Management Queensland is urging people to beware of fallen trees and power lines.

For emergency assistance contact the SES on 132 500.

9:30pm: The Weather Bureau gives the news everybody has been waiting for, saying "severe thunderstorms are no longer affecting the south-east Queensland area."

8:48pm: The latest update from the Weather Bureau indicates that Maroochydore is now feeling the worst of the storm. Coolum Beach and Noosa Heads are expected to be hit at 9:05pm and 9:35pm respectively.

8:25pm: A nice shot courtesy of the photo desk shows lightning over Brisbane's Gateway Bridge.

8:10pm: Energex crews are working to restore power to more than 15,000 homes across south-east Queensland.

Spokesman Graham Metcalfe says powerlines are down in at least five suburbs.

"Primarily in the northern suburbs of Brisbane and the Moreton Bay regional area, mostly due to the most recent storm which had like 25,000 lightning strikes which have come through in the afternoon," he said.

"Around 8,000 of those [were] just in an hour or so when the latest storm came through."

8:05pm: Watch ABC reporter Josh Bavas's round-up of the events so far.

8:00pm: Some of the reported weather events from the Weather Bureau this afternoon include:

A 112 km/hr wind gust at Cape Moreton at 7:22pm.

Golf to tennis ball-size hail at Toowong at 5:55pm.

6cm hail near Ipswich at 5:30pm.

9cm hail near Boonah at 4:45pm.

A 90 km/hr wind gust at Double Island Point at 3:35pm.

7:50pm: The latest advice from the Weather Bureau indicates the storm is now past Brisbane and closing in on the Sunshine Coast. Read it here.

"The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 7:35pm, severe thunderstorms were detected on weather radar near Comboyuro Point, Cape Moreton and northern Bribie Island. "These thunderstorms are moving towards the north-east. They are forecast to affect Caloundra by 8:05pm and Maroochydore and Coolum Beach by 8:35pm. "A more general severe thunderstorm warning is also current for parts of the Capricornia, Wide Bay and Burnett and Southeast Coast districts."

7:02pm: The latest snapshot of the storms from the Bureau of Meteorology:

7:00pm: A shopping centre has been flooded and vehicles damaged at Bellbowrie in Brisbane's south west.

Resident Shaun Akroyd says hail stones larger than golf balls injured those caught in the storm.

"There was a couple of kids screaming and carrying on and I think one guy had said someone got hit by a large piece of hail and got injured," he said. "Obviously there was quite a large amount of vehicles damaged in the process as well."

6:54pm: Concert goers are back inside the Harvest Festival at the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane's CBD, after earlier being evacuated. Thanks to ABC producer Katie Franklin for this picture:

6:43pm: Graham Metcalf from Energex says emergency crews are facing a busy evening, but cannot get to work until the lightning passes.

"It has been a very active storm afternoon. One of our key challenges is of course getting out there while these storms are going on," he said. "Obviously our aim is to get the power back on as quickly and as safely as possible."

The number to call for downed power lines is 121 962. People wishing to report loss of power are asked to call 126 262.

Be careful though - remember not to use your phone during a lightning storm.

6:23pm: Daphne, who lives in the Brisbane suburb of Middle Park, told ABC 612 that her roof was damaged as the storm hit.

"I hadn't heard the Western Suburbs mentioned [in the storm warnings], but gee it certainly came through here about half an hour ago," she said. "The hail was definitely bigger than a golf ball - I don't know if it was as big as a tennis ball, but it was definitely bigger than a golf ball."

6:16pm: The view from here in the office. Thanks to ABC reporter Josh Bavas.

6:07pm: Here is what the latest release from the Weather Bureau predicts for Brisbane residents. Read it here.

"The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 6:00 pm, severe thunderstorms were detected on weather radar near Brisbane CBD, Enoggera, Nudgee and Aspley. These thunderstorms are moving towards the north-east. "They are forecast to affect Strathpine, Redcliffe, Rainbow Beach and Wide Bay by 6:30 pm and waters off Bribie Island, Double Is Point, Inskip and Inskip Point by 7:00 pm.

"Destructive winds, heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding and large hailstones are likely."



6:00pm: The weather bureau was spot on about when the storm would arrive - nearly 6:00pm on the dot.

The ABC building at South Bank is being hammered by hail as lightning breaks across the city.

5:53pm: Reports that concert goers have had to evacuate the Harvest music festival in the heart of the Brisbane CBD due to the severe weather expected.

5:50pm: A general severe thunderstorm warning is also current for the Wide Bay and Burnett, Darling Downs and Granite Belt, Southeast Coast and parts of the Central Highlands and Coalfields, Capricornia and Maranoa and Warrego districts.

5:45pm: The Weather Bureau issued a severe thunderstorm warning for communities on both the north and south coasts of New South Wales this afternoon.

Large hailstones and strong winds have been forecast for Batemans Bay, Eden, Bega and Moruya Heads in the south.

To the north, heavy rainfall may lead to flash flooding in parts of the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands, including Lismore, Murwillumbah, Casino, Kyogle, Tabulam and Rappville.

The NSW State Emergency Service is advising residents to prepare by securing loose items around their homes and staying away from fallen power lines and creeks.

Earlier today

Wind gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour were reported at Double Island Point, while hail up to 6 centimetres in diameter has been reported throughout the region.

Senior Forecaster Jonty Hall says medium to large sized hail has been reported in at least five communities and townships.

"We have had large hail reported from a few places around the state," he said.

"At Caboolture we had a report of 3 centimetre hail, 4 centimetre hail at Jandowae on the Darling Downs and earlier two reports to three centimetres around the Yamanto area and recently we had a report of six centimetre hail at Biggenden in the Wide Bay area getting pretty close to cricket balls. So that certainly is damaging hail"

Swathe of destruction

Repairs are underway in Brisbane after the wild electrical storms ripped through the city yesterday, uprooting trees, causing blackouts, flash flooding and damage to homes and buildings.

There have been 66,000 power interruptions in the last 24 hours and a few hundred homes are still waiting for electricity to be restored.

Energex reports that there have been more than 33,000 lightning strikes the storms first hit.

The first severe cell swept through the region on Saturday morning, with a second line of storms passing overnight.

At Pittsworth and Millmerran on the Darling Downs there were reports of hail as big as golf balls and rockmelons.

Parts of Brisbane were hit with hail, while shops in the inner western suburb of Paddington were flooded.

Michaela Minx, the manager of the Kelvin Grove Markets in inner-city Brisbane, said tents and stalls were flattened.

It was quite horrific. There was a lot of terrified people, [and] a lot of people were in shock because it did hit quite fast. We have had cars that have had trees fall over on top of them, so the severity was definitely there. Michaela Minx, Kelvin Grove Markets manager

"There was a lot of tents that were mangled and destroyed and a lot of stock that, as you can imagine, was ruined," she said.

"It was quite horrific. There was a lot of terrified people, [and] a lot of people were in shock because it did hit quite fast.

"We have had cars that have had trees fall over on top of them, so the severity was definitely there."

Windsor State School principal Stephen O'Kane said two buildings and one classroom were badly damaged by falling trees.

"Half of the building has structural damage and will need to be repaired," he said.

"Two buildings have got trees on top of them and also some of the magnificent trees that we've got have come down as well."

Emergency services received 127 calls for help in the last 24 hours. A spokeswoman says most of the calls involved leaking roofs.

Mr Otto says up to 40 millimetres of rain fell within half an hour in east Brisbane during last night's storm.

"The storms didn't have the structure or strength like the ones in the first wave that came across yesterday morning," he said.

"Totals have been up around 100mm in the Lockyer Valley [west of Brisbane] and generally in Brisbane 60-80mm."

Northern NSW destruction

In northern New South Wales the extreme weather destroyed at least one house and severely damaged a dozen others.

The village of Woodburn, south of Ballina, was hardest hit when the storm hit about 7:00pm AEDT last night.

In NSW, the SES has received at least 90 calls for help across the state's north.

It has been advised that power for about 2,000 properties could be out for up to 48 hours because major power lines have come down.

SES acting region controller Kaylene Jones says strong winds and hail wrought havoc.

"There are between 12 and 14 houses that we're aware of at this point in time that have substantial structural damage," she said.

"So that's either entire rooves have been taken off, some walls are blown out and damaged and so on.

"Those houses are quite uninhabitable. There is one house that's completely collapsed."

Authorities predict it could take several days to clean up after the severe storm.

Woodburn resident Stewart Rofe was in his house when it was destroyed by the storm.

"I was watching this storm come over and I said to the family, 'we're going to get a nasty one' - and it just got worse and worse and then the hail happened," he said.

"I can't believe it. The roof's two doors over, brand new roof ... in a tree. Missed the house next door. [The] house is gutted all the way through."

Another resident, Alison Smith, whose house was severely damaged, says it is lucky her family was out when the storm struck.

"I'd hate to think, my two girls and my husband, would have been probably severely injured. It basically tore our whole our whole roof off our house and debris everywhere. Yeah, nothing left inside our house, everything is gone," she said.





Topics: storm-event, weather, storm-disaster, caloundra-4551, brisbane-4000, qld, maroochydore-4558, australia

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