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.<\/p>\n
The worst outages were in Moreton Bay, where about 51,000 customers lost power.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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The storm downed trees at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast. (ABC News: Jessica Ross)<\/p>\n
“We’re looking at about 600 powerlines down now, so that’s a good indication of how much work has been done,” he said.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Intense storm cells swept through the region yesterday afternoon, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and giant hail up to 14 centimetres in size.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Mitchelton residents say they found hail the size of their hand.\u00a0 (Supplied: Kayleen Gordon)<\/p>\n
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior forecaster Shane Kennedy said the largest recorded was in Chandler, south-east of Brisbane’s CBD.<\/p>\n
“Certainly lots of places picked up large hail, in the five to 10 centimetre range,” he said.<\/p>\n
Areas from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast were hit, and about 161,000 properties lost power.<\/p>\n
Mr Kennedy said rainfall totals of up to 70 millimetres were recorded in some areas.<\/p>\n
“Moreton Island had 79, that was the highest, but also Frank Sleeman Park at Boondall had 77 millimetres, which is just north of Brisbane.”<\/p>\n
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Giant hail battered the south-east. (Supplied: Kayleen Gordon)<\/p>\n
He said wind gusts between 90 and 100 kilometres per hour were recorded.<\/p>\n
Two people were evacuated from their Loganlea home after the roof blew off, and many properties on Bribie Island were also damaged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The SES responded to more than 2,000 calls for help, while flights and train services were disrupted.<\/p>\n
More thunderstorms on the way \u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Kennedy said conditions would warm up throughout the day, with more severe thunderstorms expected across the south-east.<\/p>\n