Half a roof gone, trees down as storm pummels region

Residents left to clean up after “little twister”, intense electrical storm leaves a trail of damage in parts of region

Photo: Marguerita Vorobioff captured this lightning strike over Imbil yesterday afternoon.

A FIERCE electrical storm that lashed parts of the region late yesterday tore at least half of one roof from a home, ripped out trees and damaged outdoor structures when it hit the area from the west.

It also delivered a superb load of rain to thirsty paddocks, lawns and tanks with reports of

Borumba Dam recording 142mm.

Imbil to the south and Kilkivan to the west seemed to be the worst affected in the Gympie region with reports of half a roof off a home in Imbil and power being cut to some homes.

 

GYMPIE NEWS: 'No coincidence': Gympie mayor cleared of misconduct

 

"The storm was really intense here," Imbil resident Marguerita Vorobioff said, who narrowly missed major damage to her property and captured a lightning strike that looked like "a pink explosion" on camera.

"There were a few lightning strike right in town.

"Someone lost half their roof and had a power pole came down.

"All we had was one of our silver wattle trees come crashing down onto our back deck - fortunately, no major damage."

"Very, very grateful for the rain."

Another resident reported a man hole being sucked into a roof, trees down, damaged sheds and a small amount of hail.

 

RELATED: Legends of fire front line celebrated as rain finally falls

 

In Kilkivan, an annex roof was reportedly torn off one property and landed in a neighbour's yard.

Police closed off a nearby street.

One resident described the storm on the Kilkivan Community Notice Board Facebook page as moving through "kinda like a little twister".

It left a trail of damage to trees and fences, others reported.

Bureau of Meteorology data shows that Gympie received 27.6mm of rain since 9am yesterday, Kenilworth 99mm, Kandanga 49mm, Glenwood 42mm and Tin Can Bay 40mm.

Originally published as