Queensland's Premier has called in the Army to help clean up after a super cell storm caused major destruction in the state's south east on Thursday afternoon.

The storm packed wind gusts of more than 140 kilometres per hour and caused damage and destruction across Brisbane and areas to the west.

The weather bureau said two storm cells joined to create a super cell, producing large hail stones that battered windows on homes, cars and high-rise buildings.

A woman was injured by a falling tree, while at Archerfield airport, planes and helicopters were flipped and major damage was caused to airport infrastructure.

Power was cut to about 83,000 customers across the region after the severe thunderstorm struck about 4:45pm (AEST). Just over 73,000 customers were still blacked out at 12:30am.

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Premier Campbell Newman commissioned the Defence Force and SES volunteers from around Queensland to help with roof repairs and recovery efforts.

"The Army at the Enoggera Barracks will be providing support and we see them mobilising [Thursday] evening, and the SES is obviously out there," Mr Newman said.

"We want people to be safe. At this stage we have had no reports of any deaths or any serious injuries, but this has been a ferocious storm, arguably the worst since 1985 for this city."

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, meanwhile, said the city's Local Disaster Coordination Centre had been activated.

SES acting assistant commissioner Peter Jeffrey said there had been more than 1,000 calls for help.

"There'll be a bit of a delay before they can help people, and jobs will be prioritised around those who are the most vulnerable," he said.

The storm continued to move north towards the Sunshine Coast and Gympie before a severe thunderstorm warning was cancelled at 8:19pm.

Mr Quirk said authorities were working as fast as possible to restore power to affected areas.

"The first thing that people need to do is to put your own safety first," he said.

"Particularly that would relate to power outages or when there are powerlines that are down."

Police asked Brisbane residents to cancel all non-essential travel around the city on Thursday night.

Several of Brisbane's arterial roads came to a standstill during the storm, plunging the city into commuter chaos. ( Google Maps )

They said some emergency services had trouble accessing certain areas because of traffic congestion.

The SES said it had more than 1,000 calls for help.

"The volunteers will continue to work through the night almost with certainty," Mr Jeffrey said.

The Ambulance Service said a woman was pinned under a tree that fell at West End, in inner Brisbane. She was treated at the scene.

Several schools around the city will be closed on Friday, with parents advised to check with their school in the morning.

Campbell Fuller from the Insurance Council of Australia said there had been thousands of claims lodged already.

"This is certainly one of the biggest storms we've seen in Brisbane in recent years," he said.

Claims so far were mainly from motorists, Mr Fuller said, though he expected that to go up "rapidly" as people arrived home and assessed the damage.

The Insurance Council has declared a "catastrophe", a rare occurrence that sees it set up a taskforce to liaise with authorities.

Train halted between stations, aircraft blown over

ABC News digital journalist Lyndall Hawke-Bryant spent three hours stuck on a train in the CBD.

"One person jumped off the train and walked back to the station, but a policewoman came and flashed her badge and suggested that wasn't a good idea for anyone else," she said.

Hawke-Bryant's train was stranded about 300 metres from Roma Street Station. She said after about an hour, the doors on the train were opened because some passengers were starting to feel faint.

Other trains were being evacuated by firefighters and SES personnel, with passengers having to make their way along the lines by foot, she said.

All Brisbane rail services were suspended during the storm and by 8:00pm only some services had resumed.

Queensland Rail's Simon Hooper said safety was paramount.

"We're just working as quickly as we can to get the network up and running. We do recommend at this stage people seek alternative forms of transport," he said.

In the city's south, Archerfield Airport general manager Corrie Metz said four aircraft had flipped over on the tarmac during the storm.

"I've had hangar doors blown off their hinges," he told 612 ABC Brisbane.

"I've got a couple of my staff doing some of the runway inspections. We are trying to get a hold of a number of aircraft owners that have been affected."

There was flash flooding in many suburbs around Brisbane including at Inala, Bowen Hills, and at Roma Street in the city.

Traffic became backed up on Coronation Drive, one of the major thoroughfares into and out of the CBD, after a tree fell across lanes.

A roof was blown off a unit complex on Coronation Drive, just before High Street at Toowong.

In St Lucia, the University of Queensland's Schonell Theatre flooded, with rain falling on the stage.

The Mater Hospital in South Brisbane said a large number of its windows were smashed by the savage wind.

The massive storm comes a week after another severe event caused chaos in Brisbane, with flash flooding trapping commuters and submerging cars.

'It was like a cyclone'

Brisbane resident Genevieve told 612 ABC Brisbane she was stuck in a carpark she sought shelter in at the height of the storm.

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"The limbs flying from the trees ... was enough to frighten me into the first carpark I saw," she said.

"The rain has just started to pick up again now."

ABC producer Amanda Dell said she and her kids sought shelter in their bathroom.

"It really did feel like a cyclone. The palm trees next door were bending," she said.

"Our neighbours windows have been smashed ... both of our cars are not looking great. It was very frightening."

ABC Grandstand online producer James Maasdorp said golf-ball-sized hailstones fell at Annerley, in Brisbane's inner south.

"It broke windows and sent cars ducking inside apartment complexes for emergency shelter," he said.

A weather bureau radar photo shows the storm over Brisbane. ( Bureau of Meteorology )

"The roar was deafening as the stones collided with rooftops. I've had two bedroom windows broken, with a torrent of water coming through.

"Carpets have been saturated and glass has literally exploded all over the bedrooms. I'll be sleeping on the sofa tonight."

David from Durack also said the scene resembled a cyclone.

"I'm seeing fences bent on a 45-degree angle and a helicopter flipped at Archerfield. It was grounded, but geez, there's so much damage," he said.

Nick from Red Hill said 25 cars scrambled to take shelter in the carpark of the Red Hill shops when the storm hit.

"The wind was just so incredible that it was blowing the hail in under the [carpark ceiling]," he said.

Kellie was in South Brisbane and said the ferocity of the storm cell was "absolutely insane".

"Can I tell you I did the Sydney to Hobart last year ... and [the wind speed] was in excess of that, without question," she said.

"The rains were horizontal. The howling, all the roof tiles in our building on the top floor ... [it] was just remarkable."

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