Qld weather: Flights cancelled, homes without power as cold winds smash South East
Trees and powerlines have been toppled, thousands of homes are without power and flights have been cancelled as an icy ‘vigorous airstream’ blasts southeast Queensland with gale force winds, sending temperatures plummeting.
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Queensland is being battered by icy gale force winds that have brought down power lines and trees, left thousands of homes without power and forced the delay or cancellation of multiple flights.
Winds reaching speeds of 90km/h – powered by a ‘vigorous westerly airstream from a deep low in the Tasman Sea’ – have delivered an icy blast to much of the South East, causing the region’s already cold temperatures to feel even colder as the promised Antarctic chill blew in.
By 11am, more than 15,000 homes were without power with Brisbane, Gold Coast, Logan, Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay and Scenic Rim the worst-affected areas. It had since been reduced to 3,800 just before 1pm.
At least 19 flights departing and arriving at Brisbane Airport have been cancelled due to the windy weather.
“A number of flights this morning have been impacted by the weather conditions, both south of Brisbane with the Antarctic blast and high wind gusts,” Stephen Beckett from Brisbane Airport said.
“There are minor delays as a result of amalgamating these aircraft, and the impacts of the winds and weather.
“We’ll be keeping an eye on it all day today. The best thing for passengers to do is to check their airlines online, to get the best advice on any impacts on their flights.”
Temperatures plummeted into the single digits across parts of Southern Queensland with Applethorpe in the Granite Belt reaching 5.2C, with an apparent temperature of 0.7C at 6.30am on Tuesday.
Amberley in the Southeast Coast also had a cold start to the morning, feeling like just 4.3C.
With a wind chill only adding to the cold, the Bureau of Meteorology reported Brisbane felt like 11.7C early on Tuesday, while the airport felt closer to 8.8.
But a BOM spokesperson has warned that temperatures could continue to become even colder over the next couple of days.
“It’s going to be cold for a couple of days,” Meteorologist Helen Reid told the Courier Mail.
“Brisbane itself is looking at it being even colder tomorrow, just as that cool air continues to push through.
“We’re not expecting temperatures to start going back up again a little bit until Friday and probably return to business as usual on Saturday, and that’s when the showers will be a little bit of a thing as well later in the weekend.”
The Bureau issued a new severe weather warning early on Tuesday warning of damaging wind gusts up to 90km/h.
“A vigorous westerly airstream persists over southeastern Queensland due to a deep low in the Tasman Sea,” the warning said.
“Damaging wind gusts with peak gusts to 90km/h are possible on and just east of the ranges in the southeast, particularly the Main Range and Scenic Rim.
“Damaging gusts are most likely during the day, before easing in the afternoon and then redeveloping overnight Tuesday.
“Winds are then expected to ease later on Wednesday morning.
“Saturated soils in southeastern Queensland are bringing an increased risk of gusty winds toppling trees and powerlines.”
Locations which may be affected include Toowoomba, Stanthorpe, Gatton, Boonah, Esk and Laidley.
âš ï¸ Severe weather warning for damaging winds continues for areas around the ranges in #SEQld. Strong and gusty winds remain likely elsewhere in the southeast. Conditions expected to ease during Wednesday. Warning details: https://t.co/tdPaXaK9OApic.twitter.com/aDLZYbVNvT
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) May 31, 2022
Brisbane residents have been left without power after a strong wind gusts added more pain to an already difficult year.
A family of three living on Sixth Ave in Windsor have received the shocking news today that a tree had fallen over and crushed their garage.
Trenton Hindman returned home this afternoon to assess the damage that the tree had caused, including widespread power outages.
Mr Hindman also made sure to run inside for the dramatic rescue of the family dog Charlie, who was the only one inside the property at the time of the crash.
“I don’t think he even knew what was going on but he was fine,” Mr Hindman told The Courier Mail.
“He’s come out alive … He was just in the yard. Normally he’d be barking so he was very quiet, very subdued.”
His wife Zephanie Hindman came home from work after learning about the fallen tree.
The family had been impacted by the floods earlier this year, and will turn to insurance again after another natural disaster.
“It’s just been a series of things, one after the other,” Ms Hindman said.
“This is not going to make a big impact on us but we’ve had flooding this year so that’s already gutted. It looks like maybe we have to replace another half of the house.
“You’ve got to laugh, don’t you?”
With the tree having just been trimmed yesterday, Ms Hindman seemed in shock as she spoke about the incident.
“We were worried about it because we got it trimmed yesterday,” she said.
“They trimmed the tree down just in case there were branches and things that were flying.
“But it’s a bit uncanny that this has happened the next day. The same tree loppers are on their way back now.”
Neighbour Zenenk Fyduniw lives just down the road from the property.
Mr Fyduniw rushed out to see what had happened when he heard a laugh crash.
“I just live down the road here and I heard the big crash, but it’s been windy all night and that tree went over on the powerlines,” Mr Fyduniw said.
“Just like a big crash noise … I came out and had a look, the fire brigade turned up.”
The Summit resident Sarah Ashburn was feeling the cold this morning as she woke up without any heat or power in her family home.
Living about 10 minutes outside of Stanthorpe, Ms Ashburn had to go to McDonald’s for breakfast this morning after the blackout last night.
The forecast has suggested Stanthorpe will be one of the coldest places in Queensland this week, with the temperature to reach a top of 12C on Tuesday.
“We obviously had warnings throughout the week … we had the warning that the cold front was coming,” Ms Ashburn said.
“It’s been cold up here for a good three or four weeks now anyway.
“We lost power last night at about 8pm with horrendous winds. We’re about 10 minutes outside of Stanthorpe and Applethorpe.
“We’re at the summit which is a lot higher than everywhere else up here, so the wind up here is obviously a lot stronger.
“Woke up this morning and it was three (degrees) when I woke up at about 5am but a lack of power and no heaters, that was a very big shock to the system.”
Ms Ashburn’s husband is the principal at The Summit State School, and has had to order a new generator to help keep the school warm.
“They’ve had to order a generator, which has literally just arrived, I’m looking out the window, to try and get some power into the school to get the classrooms warmed up,” she said.
“The wind chill factors dropped the temperature even more but it’s just unbelievable how cold it was this morning.”
Hotel owners in Stanthorpe are also preparing for tourists to come knocking this week as cold weather continues to sweep through the region.
Tourists flocked to the region last year to holiday as snow hit the small town in September.
Girraween Country Inn owner Shelley Wood is expecting more people to plan last-minute trips to the town this week as whispers of snow potentially falling continue to be heard.
“Next weekend is just about fully booked. I would imagine that will change if they start to whisper about snow,” Ms Wood told the Courier Mail.
“As soon as that happens, then that switch turns on.
“Predominantly we’re booked out every weekend in July and August, and in June. We still have some vacancies but since there’s snow whisper talk, then it was start to peak.”
With strong winds set to hit the region this week, the wind chill factor will likely drop the temperature further.
Ms Wood expects more people from out of town to head to Stanthorpe this weekend.
“Everyone loves the winters in the Granite Belt and they flock here in the winter,” she said.
“Even though the summer season is beautiful in itself, eight to 10 degrees cooler than Brisbane, but certainly winters the season they flock.
“As soon as there’s talk of cold weather or in fact a whisper of snow, they’ll come in droves.
“There’s talk about snow tomorrow (Wednesday), although I think Thursday might be more likely, but certainly we’ve got all the fires going and we’ve got six fireplaces.”
Kate Henderson is another hotel owner in the town who has observed busy tourism periods over winter.
“It’s always busy during winter,” said Ms Henderson, who manages and owns the Boulevard Motel.
“From now on people are just chasing cold weather. We have visitors from Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and even from New South Wales.
“Basically the Brisbane area, they all come. Every weekend if you’re not booked out you’re thinking ‘what’s wrong?’
“Certainly if they think it’s going to snow the phone rings non-stop with people checking. But having said that, we’re full every weekend anyway from during the cooler months and even during summer.”
CURRENT TEMPS & 7-DAY FORECAST
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