2 months ago
11
A Christmas Eve storm has caused a power outage in Brisbane, affecting thousands of customers.
Immediately after the storm, more than 3000 households were without power. About an hour later, power was restored to roughly a third – 1204 households in the Indooroopilly and Chapel Hill area.
In Clayfield, 1845 households remained without power.
Brisbane has been hit by a severe storm on Christmas Eve.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
All three outages were caused by damage from a severe storm that hit Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon, with 50,000 lightning strikes recorded across south-east Queensland.
Suburbs on the Sunshine Coast were also experiencing outages, with 1076 households initially affected. Many of these have had power restored, with 710 still experiencing outages.
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“Where conditions have eased and it’s safe to head out, Energex crews will do fault-finding patrols to assess the damage and repairs required,” a spokesperson said.
“Estimated restoration times will be updated in Outage Finder based on damage assessments.
“We have crews on standby 24/7 every day of the year for emergency response and they’ll be working to get the Christmas lights back on as soon as they safely can.”
Minor outages were also observed in the affected suburbs, with some residents reporting their power went out for a minute or so before coming back on.
At 4.30pm, the Bureau of Meteorology had warnings in place for heavy rainfall in the Greater Brisbane Area, including surrounding areas such as the Sunshine Coast, Southern Downs, Darling Downs, and parts of Central Queensland. There was a possibility of hail in the Southern Downs.
Three storm cells were making their way through the south-east. Toowong experienced 44mm of rain in about a half hour, with less rainfall in Chapel Hill and Kenmore. The CBD also experienced 15mm to 20mm.
A second cell dropped approximately 30mm to 40mm just south of Ipswich, while the Sunshine Coast experienced 57mm in about 30 minutes.
Storms were expected to continue throughout the afternoon and into Christmas Day, lessening overnight but gearing back up about 10am.
The heatwave warning has now been cancelled, and temperatures are expected to ease throughout the remainder of the week.
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