Giant hailstones, destructive winds and lightning have lashed parts of south-east Queensland, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without power.
Severe thunderstorm warnings are in place from the New South Wales border to the Sunshine Coast and parts of Gympie.
The Bureau of Meteorology said 11-centimetre hailstones were reported at Ferny Hills in the Moreton Bay region and Manly on Brisbane’s bayside at about 3:30pm.
The Brisbane suburb of Chermside before the storm hit at about 3pm today. (Supplied: MBK Aerials)
At Brisbane Airport, a 107-kilometre per hour wind gust was recorded while a 100kph gust was recorded at Maroochydoore.
Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said the storm was unlikely to ease as it moved north.
“It’s moving into an even more unstable atmosphere as it gets up into the Sunshine Coast, so it’s probably just going to continue to be very powerful as it continues moving further north,” he said.
Giant hail fell in the Logan suburb of Cornubia this afternoon as storms sweep across south-east Queensland. (Supplied: Madison Fealy)
Storms have also swept over parts of the Scenic Rim, producing strong winds and rain at Kylie Munce’s home in Canungra.
She said there had been a “steady stream” of hail fall in varying sizes which settled around 2:30pm.
“I’m more worried about the wind gusts [than the hail],” she said.
“Lightning strikes are hitting Tamborine Mountain range, it’s wild.”
A roof was ripped from a house on Bribie Island on Monday afternoon. (ABC News)
More than 150,000 customers have lost power across south-east Queensland, with Moreton Bay, Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast regions most affected.
More than 600 powerlines were down on Monday evening.Â
The storm downed trees at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. (ABC News: Jessica Ross)
“We do ask people to ring in any power lines that they see down, [and report] the locations of those,” Justin Coomber from Energex told ABC Radio Brisbane.
Hundreds of powerlines are down across south-east Queensland, inlcuding at Bribie Island. (ABC News)
Mr Coomber said Energex had recorded about 525,000 lightning strikes so far on Monday.
“Yesterday, I think we had about 250,000 lightning strikes in the whole day across south-east Queensland, and just this afternoon we’ve had double that,” he said.
“So that shows … that’s going to be some damage out there.”
Hailstones measuring 5.5-6cm were recorded by Morgan Eric at Tamrookum. (Supplied: Morgan Eric)
The State Emergency Service has responded to 570 calls for help, including 254 in Logan, 178 in Brisbane and 98 in the Redlands.
The weather forced all flights at Brisbane Airport to be halted for about an hour.