Brisbane storm: Teen struck by lightning, thousands without power in Queensland storms

Updated

A teenager has been struck by lightning during dangerous thunderstorms in Queensland's south-east that caused structural damage and left thousands without power.

Senior Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sam Campbell said several supercell storms moved into Queensland from New South Wales late yesterday afternoon, causing hail and major damage along the way.

"We have some top end supercell thunderstorms and we have reports of roofs removed at Gatton, swift water rescues at Salisbury in Brisbane," he said.

"We have another line of significant storms moving in from the west moving into the Brisbane."

The first storm swept through Brisbane's CBD, Brisbane Airport, Nudgee, Samford and Albany Creek about 5:25pm, before moving north-east all the way through to waters off Bribie Island.

Another storm cell hit Boonah, Laidley, Gatton, Esk's west and south-west, Burpengary and Brighton about 5:50pm.

Cells hit Caboolture, Kilcoy and Kingaroy north-west of Brisbane after 7:00pm, before moving over Maroochydore and Caloundra on the way to Gympie.

Queensland Ambulance reported that one teenager was struck by lightning at Allora on the Darling Downs while he was holding a metal door in the front section of the house.

It is unknown how serious his injuries are.

Firefighters said one home had been struck by lightning causing a house fire at Russell Island off Brisbane.

The number of Energex customers without power peaked at more than 37,000, including more than 1,300 across the Lockyer Valley, 1,200 in the Scenic Rim, 3,400 in Ipswich and 1,600 in Logan.

There was also a high of about 1,600 outages in Brisbane's CBD.

The township of Clifton, with a population of around 1,400 residents on the Darling Downs, experienced a total blackout after storms took down every power tower in the town.

Footage posted to social media showed "golf-ball-sized hail" falling at Rathdowney near the NSW border as grey clouds rolled through Beaudesert further north.

Operations at Brisbane airport were delayed as storms rolled over after 5:00pm AEST, stranding passengers who had already boarded aircraft on the tarmac.

Heatwave set to continue

A heatwave is continuing to grip parts of central and southern Queensland, but a sea breeze provided a reprieve for Brisbane during the day.

The mercury shot up to 45 degrees Celsius in outback Birdsville, the hottest place in the state on Saturday.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sam Campbell said hot conditions would continue over the weekend for much of central and southern Queensland.

"We will see an easing in the south-west on Monday but it's not until Thursday that most of the state will see significant easing in the temperatures we're seeing at the moment," he said.

The heatwave will end at different times too, with coastal areas set to cool down sooner and towns in the south-west of the state hit hardest with temperatures rising to the low to mid-40s.

Compared to inland areas, Brisbane and the coast were considerably cooler on Saturday.

Mr Campbell said low cloud over Brisbane and parts of the south-east helped create a pleasant morning along much of the coastal strip, but their clearing by early afternoon sent most people in search of shade.

"Temperatures increased up into the mid to high 30s during the afternoon, particularly locations west of Ipswich," he said.

Cooler conditions are likely to prevail in the east, with temperatures generally staying below 30C from the Sunshine Coast down to northern New South Wales.

"So, a bit of good news around the coast with sea breezes ameliorating the temperatures there, but most of southern and central Queensland will experience extreme to severe heatwave conditions," he warned.

Topics: weather, emergency-incidents, emergency-planning, longreach-4730, ipswich-4305, brisbane-4000, qld

First posted