Brisbane's CBD has experienced its heaviest rainfall in nine years, with 80 millimetres recorded in just 50 minutes. The downpour caused lengthy transport delays, with flash flooding hitting a range of suburbs, including Woolloongabba, Paddington and Windsor. Milton appears the worst hit, with reports of cars washing down the road. Tens of thousands of homes were without power this afternoon, as electricity provider Energex works to restore services to more than 60,000 homes and businesses.

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------------------------------------------- Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said the 80 millimetres that fell in the CBD between 11.40am and 12.30pm was the heaviest since March 2001, when 138 millimetres fell during a 24 hour period.

"[Today's rainfall] included 25 millimetres in just 10 minutes," he said.

"Further storms are likely to develop this afternoon, but the main storm area will move to the north of the city. "The storms are very slow moving, which is why the rain is so heavy, apart from a totally saturated atmosphere - it's about as moist as the atmosphere gets."

Mr Dutschke said the storms were likely to continue throughout the afternoon until a southeasterly change took hold later in the evening. The guys are up there at the moment, belly-button deep

"These storms have the potential to bring 50 to 150 millimetres," he said. Transport woes The wild weather shut down rail lines and passengers were told to expect long delays. Buses are operating between Dutton Park and Moorooka and 90-minute delays are expected, Translink says. Passengers on the Gold Coast and Beenleigh lines can expect delays of up to 45 minutes, while passengers on the Caboolture and Nambour lines between Burpengary and Caboolture stations can expect delays of up 30-45 minutes due to a signalling fault.

Signalling problems caused by the storm have affected passengers on other lines across the rail network, with delays of up to 30 minutes on average as services return to normal.

Rail and bus passengers across the commuter network have also been warned to expect delays of up to 45 minutes as services return to normal following heavy rain that caused flash flooding in parts of Brisbane.

A large lake has formed on the corner of Vulture Street and Main Street, Woolloongabba, according to 4BC Radio. Workers at the Mobil service station on the corner of Vulture and Wellington streets, were rushing to move cartons from its storeroom which had been inundated by flooding.

Mechanic Dave Thwaites said several cars had taken on water and nearby roads, including Vulture Street, were closed. "At the moment [the height of the water is] probably two and a half feet," he said. "The guys are up there at the moment, belly-button deep."

One New Farm resident has said the water "was up to your shins" at Merthyr Road.



Queensland Public Sector Union staff were forced to evacuate their South Brisbane office on Peel Street after "massive leaks" appeared in the ceiling. "It's pretty wet in there ... I don't really know if it's going to be possible to go back in, so we're just hanging around at the moment and I'm sure we'll be working properly by the end of tomorrow," QPSU media officer Chris O'Regan told brisbanetimes.com.au. Emergency Management Queensland acting deputy chief officer Wayne Coutts warned against people venturing into flooded areas. "Residents should take extra care in the current conditions," he said. "Emergency services personnel attended a number of incidents relating to flash flooding last night in Toowoomba and similar conditions are expected across south east Queensland today.

"People in affected areas can avoid being stranded by not walking through, playing in or attempting to drive through flood waters." Victor Mace, owner of an art gallery on Douglas Street in Milton, nervously watched the floodwaters rise within a metre of his front door this afternoon. Two small cars parked on Douglas Street were washed onto the footpath at the height of the downpour, while three others were inundated by floodwaters. "It just came up so quickly. It would have taken no more than 20 minutes. I was very nervous - I have paintings on the floor. It would have taken me longer than five minutes to move them," Mr Mace said.

Mr Mace began shovelling debris from the blocked storm water drain outside his gallery as soon as the water had receded. Robert Wimmer, 26, of Le Mans Motors in Douglas Street was relieved to find only one car damaged by floodwaters. "Usually we have more cars parked on the street, so we were lucky today that we only had one. I went to take the Jag for a test drive, but I couldn't even get in it," Mr Wimmer said. He said drivers had continued to speed through the floodwaters washing cars onto the footpath in their wake. "The wake from the cars driving past just kept pushing the cars onto the footpath - they didn't care, they just kept driving."





In a repeat of last night's spectacular light show, about 1500 lightning strikes have been recorded over Brisbane and the south-east since this morning, with a power pole on Ipswich Road at Moorooka suffering a direct hit. The strike has left about 580 homes without power in the suburb. A further 1300 are without electricity in Cannon Hill.

Last night about 5000 lightning strikes were recorded between 5pm and 9pm, according to energy provider Energex. But while the skies were lit up for four hours, the rain was brief, with most areas experiencing flash flooding.

About 8pm, Brisbane was drenched in a downpour that lasted just 10 minutes but brought up to 16 millimetres in some areas, Weatherzone says. The worst of the storm was felt west of the city. Ipswich recorded 100 millimetres overnight, causing the temperature to drop six degrees to 25 degrees in just five minutes, Weatherzone forecaster Sam Terry said. "It's pretty amazing,'' Mr Terry said. Areas north of the Brisbane CBD recorded only up to 5 millimetres of rain, while areas south received 15 to 40 millimetres, he said. "(There was) 5 millimetres in 10 minutes in Brisbane itself, so that was flash flooding but not quite as bad as out at Ipswich," Mr Terry said.

Winds reached up to 70kmh but failed to put a dent in the stifling humidity, which remained above 90 per cent overnight. Mr Terry said South-East Queensland could expect a repeat of the storms this afternoon or this evening. More than 20,000 homes were out of power yesterday afternoon, with demand for electricity reaching peak. Loading Energex is bracing for further outages again today and is urging residents to to keep their airconditioners at 24 degrees to help minimise the power drain on the grid.

"We're expecting more storms [so] we've got crews on standby to respond to that," an Energex spokesman said.