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SEQ Weather: Severe thunderstorms lash southeast

Storms caused carnage to large parts of Brisbane on Monday night, with power outages, fallen trees and crushed cars aplenty, with the potential for more storms later in the week.

Hail and lightning as severe thunderstorms hit Brisbane

Severe thunderstorms lashed much of the state’s south on Monday, with large hail in Brisbane, heavy rain and wind gusts up to 78km/h, as the Bureau of Meteorology warns of more to come later in the week.

Storm cells formed just after 2.30pm on Monday, with Brisbane hit after 5pm.

Kirra on the Gold Coast. Pic: Ray Farthing
Kirra on the Gold Coast. Pic: Ray Farthing

More than 5000 properties were without power as of 7.15pm, chiefly in the Logan and Ipswich area.

Energex said 14,727 lightning strikes had been recorded within a 40km radius of Brisbane’s CBD – cloud and ground events – between 4pm and 7pm.

SES responded to 33 callouts, with the majority of calls related to structural damage and fallen trees.

A large fallen tree completely destroyed a small vehicle on Katherine St, Wilston.

Resident Peter said his girlfriend Sengai had arrived home just 30 minutes before the gum tree fell onto her car.

A large tree came down on a car in Katherine St, Wilston after yesterday's late afternoon storm. Picture: Facebook/ENERGEX
A large tree came down on a car in Katherine St, Wilston after yesterday's late afternoon storm. Picture: Facebook/ENERGEX

“She was very lucky. But she is feeling not too bad about it,” he said.

“We are just hoping that insurance will cover it.

“We might be the only ones in Brisbane that had this happen (in last night’s storm).”

Sharnie Monoghan, whose house was impacted by the damage said she was just glad no one got hurt.

The front yard of her house was covered in debris, tree branches and dirt.

The family were having renovations done on their house – the construction company’s port-a-loo had been crushed by the tree.

“I wasn’t home when it happened but my husband and eldest son were inside when they heard a loud crash,” she said.

“Fortunately it is just a bunch of dirt and leaves we are just clearing away this morning.

“But you do think about what if that tree landed just a few metres to the left.”

A large tree has come down on a car in Katherine Street, Wilston after yesterday's late afternoon storm Picture Facebook
A large tree has come down on a car in Katherine Street, Wilston after yesterday's late afternoon storm Picture Facebook

Ms Monaghan said she heard the chainsaws cutting through the gum tree at 1am last night.

“We just slept through it – put some earplugs in. The boys still had to go to school the next day.”

Ms Monaghan said while the clean-up from the gum tree falling over was not major, she and her family were still without power in their home.

More than 530 Energex customers in Newmarket were still without power around 10:30am on Tuesday, while another 547 in Ashgrove, 107 in Alderley and 54 in Kelvin Grove were still without power.

Twenty-three callouts were across the Brisbane CBD, while another seven were in Ipswich.

SES also responded to two callouts in Moreton Bay and one in the Gladstone region.

In Yamanto, one resident saw their backyard fence torn down by damaging winds.

Other residents said their homes were pelted with hail.

Brisbane resident Brenda Hayward took to social media after her backyard was smashed.

“Crazy rain and hailstorm this afternoon! On my back balcony it was smashed with hail, luckily not big enough to break anything thank goodness,” she posted.

“Stay safe people, summer storms are here!”

Hail covers a balcony in Brisbane. Photo: Brenda Hayward
Hail covers a balcony in Brisbane. Photo: Brenda Hayward

The highest wind gusts of 78km/h were recorded in Redcliffe about 6.40pm and 61km/h at Amberley about 5.10pm.

There were reports of large hail, 3-5cm over Clontarf (Redcliffe area) around 6.40pm and 1-2cm hail around Ipswich and Brisbane suburbs.

The biggest rainfall total recorded was in Pine Hills, near Chinchilla, which saw 40mm of rainfall in the 30 minutes to 3.18pm.

There was 5-15mm of rain recorded by 7pm over parts of the southeast, with isolated falls up to 25mm around Ipswich and 27mm in Karalee and reports of flash flooding in the Redcliffe area which had received 19mm by 7pm.

Hail has fallen in Flinders View in Ipswich
Hail has fallen in Flinders View in Ipswich

During the intense weather the Queensland Fire Department received reports of a lightning strike hitting Parliament House at 7pm.

“We have spoken to staff and fire and emergency crews investigated the roof space and found no evidence of a lightning strike,” a Queensland Fire Department spokesman told The Courier-Mail.

Storms lash Brisbane

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jonathan How said southeast Queenslanders could see severe thunderstorms later in the week.

“Today, thankfully, we are expecting a much calmer day across South East Queensland,” he said.

“There are some showers and storms about the coast, including around the Gold Coast and the Brisbane area, but we’re not expecting anything severe.

“We could just see a couple of moderate rainfall totals being recorded.”

Storm clouds over Suncorp Stadium. Picture: Steve Pohlner
Storm clouds over Suncorp Stadium. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Mr How said severe thunderstorms were expected later in the week.

“Thursday and Saturday are looking to be the days when we could see severe thunderstorms,” he said.

“Sunday, we do see things sort of settling down a little bit, but next week again, we do see the chance of storms each day, which is pretty normal for southern Queensland.

“These storms are the ones that can bring damaging winds, large hail, as well as heavy rain and flash flooding.”

Hail at Redbank Plains.
Hail at Redbank Plains.
Pictures: Jenevra Ravell
Pictures: Jenevra Ravell

South East Queensland residents can expect an “unsettled” week of weather.

Livio Regano from the Bureau of Meteorology said temperatures would be up and down throughout the week.

“It’s generally unsettled this week, every day there’s the threat of storms,” the meteorologist said.

Storm clouds around Brisbane on Monday. Picture: Colin Dwyer
Storm clouds around Brisbane on Monday. Picture: Colin Dwyer

“The weather is always on edge but may never deliver.”

A large storm was headed for Brisbane on Monday afternoon.
A large storm was headed for Brisbane on Monday afternoon.
Storm clouds in Brisbane. Pic: Steve Pohlner
Storm clouds in Brisbane. Pic: Steve Pohlner

Originally published as SEQ Weather: Severe thunderstorms lash southeast

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Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/queensland/weather/seq-weather-storms-threaten-inconsistent-temperatures-expected/news-story/4f3ff5db85efce63de8debe7fc02c852