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Almost 100,000 properties in south-east Queensland have no power on Tuesday morning after wild storms lashed the region, with people warned to brace for more severe weather.
Brisbane went dark on Monday afternoon, about school pick-up time, with winds exceeding 100 kilometres an hour recorded at Brisbane Airport just after 3pm, and huge hailstones on the Gold Coast and parts of Brisbane.
More than half-a-million lightning strikes were recorded during the storm.
There were 11 state schools closed as a result, with some suffering extensive water damage to buildings, access problems and uneven footpaths, and trees down.
A fallen tree on Sir Fred Schonell Drive, in St Lucia, on Monday afternoon.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
Another 47 schools had significant IT issues, but remained open.
Schools closed were:
- Banksia Beach State School
- Beachmere State School
- Bribie Island State High School
- Bribie Island State School
- Churchill State School
- Dakabin State School
- Darling Point Special School
- Griffin State School
- Mount Kilcoy State School
- Walloon State School
- Woody Point Special School
Energex reported 96,049 south-east Queensland customers were affected by power outages at 8.30am on Tuesday, including in Toowong, Gumdale, Brookfield and Bray Park.
Danny Donald, from Energex, said crews restored power to 70,000 properties overnight, but warned it could be at least one or two days until some of the worst-affected areas, particularly in the Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast regions, had power restored.
“We’ve got another 300 crew out there today, plus we’ve got additional crews coming in from Toowoomba and the Wide Bay, Hervey Bay region, so we are throwing everything at it,” he told 4BC radio.
“The worst-affected area, of course, is anywhere northside of Brisbane up to the Sunshine Coast.”
Hail in Ferny Hills on Monday.
But Donald warned power restoration would be more of a marathon than a sprint.
“They’re going absolute clappers to get this sorted ASAP, but it’s going to be a day or two yet,” he said.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said hail up to 11 to 12 centimetres in diameter was recorded at Manly, Ferny Hills and Alexandra Hills on Monday, with pockets of heavy rainfall across the region.
Fallen branches at Riverside Drive in West End.Credit: Felicity Caldwell
And he warned more storms were expected on Tuesday.
Moreton Island had the highest rainfall of 80mm, most of which fell within 30 minutes, with about 40mm to 60mm near the Brisbane Airport, and there were reports of flash flooding.
How warned a thunderstorm was likely on Tuesday afternoon or night, possibly severe with damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain, which might lead to flash flooding.
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“And this could affect places that were impacted quite heavily last night,” he said.
Brisbane was expected to reach a high of 35 degrees on Tuesday.
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