Clean-up efforts across south-east Queensland are underway this morning after severe thunderstorms and large hailstones hit the region on Saturday afternoon.
More than 2,500 people across the region remain without power on Sunday morning.
The State Emergency Service (SES) said it received about 300 requests for assistance in response to the storms, with almost 90 from the Toowoomba region, to Brisbane’s west, which experienced supercell storm activity and “giant hail” in some areas.
Esk resident Jon Betts’s home was damaged in the storm. (Supplied: Jon Betts)
About 50 calls for help came from the Somerset region, north-west of the state’s capital, where large hail and damage to homes and cars were also recorded, as were some minor hail-related injuries.
In Esk, a woman in her 30s was taken to hospital in a stable condition after she received head and neck injuries in the storm, while eight other people were assessed for hail-related injuries.
Of those, three were also transported to hospital.
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Queensland SES state operations director Glenn Alderton said the storms, which the Bureau of Meteorology categorised as “widespread”, had managed to “punch well above its weight”.
More than 80 per cent of all requests for assistance were for damaged or leaking roofs.
“Large hail, lots of damage to windows and roofs … lots of trees down,” Mr Alderton said.
Some powerlines are also down.
The SES has urged residents not to approach fallen powerlines but to call energy providers instead.
Mr Alderton said people who were starting to clean up around their area this morning should wear gloves when doing so.
Motorists were forced to pull over near East Greenmount due to poor visibility on Saturday afternoon. (Supplied: Trent Frecklington)
‘Giant hail’
The largest hail was recorded at Pratten, west of Warwick in the Southern Downs region, about two-and-a-half hours from Brisbane.
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Nine-centimetre hail fell in the rural town, smashing roofs and cars.
Mr Alderton said the hailstones had been larger than golf balls in some areas and had caused significant damage, leaving broken glass in its wake.
“We have had some reports of whole roofs being removed in western areas overnight,” he said.
“Significant damage.”
The giant hail caused damage to windscreens in Pratten. (Supplied: Richard Manley)
Ergon’s outages list says about 2,600 people across the state are without power.
Parts of Toowoomba and the South Burnett were most impacted by power outages.
Energex and Ergon spokesperson Danny Donald said at the height of the storms yesterday, between 17,000 to 20,000 people lost power.
Giant hail, lightning and rain hit south-east Queensland
Mr Donald said lightning had been the “biggest issue” for crews getting the power back on Saturday afternoon.
“We received a quarter of a million lightning strikes across south-east Queensland alone,” he said.
All households were expected to have their power restored on Sunday.
The SES has also received calls for assistance from Brisbane, Ipswich, the Southern Downs, Logan, the Lockyer Valley, Moreton Bay, the Redlands and the Sunshine Coast.
‘Potentially severe’ storms a risk on Sunday
No storm warnings are current as of Sunday morning, although senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology Baden Gilbert said there remained a risk of “potentially severe” storms on Sunday.
The area around the Lockyer Valley, Kilcoy, Gympie and Monto was an “area of focus” for the BOM, he said.
On Saturday, the BOM had warned of the potential for flash flooding across the south-east, and although some areas received falls of between 10 and 30 millimetres.
Mr Gilbert said there had not been any flood reports.
“The rainfall totals were pretty moderate really. It looks like everyone got a bit and no-one got a lot,” he said.
Looking ahead for the week, Mr Gilbert said the south-east could expect to see more rain and storms until at least Tuesday.