About 90,000 households remain without power after giant hailstones, destructive winds and intense lightning lashed south-east Queensland, with more extreme weather on the way.
The worst outages were in Moreton Bay, where about 51,000 customers lost power.
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Approximately 13,000 homes were affected on the Sunshine Coast, with a further 9,000 in Noosa, 7,000 in Ipswich, 5,000 in Gympie, and around 1,700 in Brisbane.
Energex spokesperson Justin Coomber said crews worked through the night to restore the network, and new crews had been deployed to help with restoration efforts.
The storm downed trees at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. (ABC News: Jessica Ross)
“We’re looking at about 600 powerlines down now, so that’s a good indication of how much work has been done,” he said.
“When you look at it, it’s not just the powerlines. There have been broken power poles, and all of the equipment that is up on the equipment as well.”
Intense storm cells swept through the region yesterday afternoon, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and giant hail up to 14 centimetres in size.Â
Mitchelton residents say they found hail the size of their hand. (Supplied: Kayleen Gordon)
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior forecaster Shane Kennedy said the largest recorded was in Chandler, south-east of Brisbane’s CBD.
“Certainly lots of places picked up large hail, in the five to 10 centimetre range,” he said.
Areas from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast were hit, and about 161,000 properties lost power.
Mr Kennedy said rainfall totals of up to 70 millimetres were recorded in some areas.
“Moreton Island had 79, that was the highest, but also Frank Sleeman Park at Boondall had 77 millimetres, which is just north of Brisbane.”
Giant hail battered the south-east. (Supplied: Kayleen Gordon)
He said wind gusts between 90 and 100 kilometres per hour were recorded.
Two people were evacuated from their Loganlea home after the roof blew off, and many properties on Bribie Island were also damaged.Â
The SES responded to more than 2,000 calls for help, while flights and train services were disrupted.
More thunderstorms on the way Â
Mr Kennedy said conditions would warm up throughout the day, with more severe thunderstorms expected across the south-east.
More storms predicted amid ‘very unsettled’ Queensland weather
“Expecting to get up around the mid 30s again … around 33 [degrees] in the city, 37 in the west,” he said.
“We will have another round of thunderstorms unfortunately.
“Quite likely to see severe thunderstorms through the south-east later today.”