Qld weather: Storms and heatwave in southeast but relief on the way
A severe storm has drenched the Greater Brisbane area, leaving water over the road on a major motorway, a train station flooded and power out in close to 16,000 properties.
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Severe storms have drenched Brisbane, leaving water over the road on the Pacific Motorway in the CBD, delaying public transport and causing havoc for commuters, and leaving close to 16,000 homes without power.
It comes following a hot and humid day that saw temperatures reach the mid-30s, while western parts of the state smashed through the 40-degree barrier.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a warning for people in Somerset Council area that
at 7:20pm, severe thunderstorms were detected on the weather radar near Toogoolawah.
“They are forecast to affect the area west of Kilcoy and Moore by 7:50pm and Linville, the ranges south of Jimna and the area east of Nanango by 8:20pm,” the Bureau said.
“Damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely.”
“These thunderstorms are moving towards the north to northeast. They are forecast to affect Narangba, Burpengary and Beachmere by 6.20pm and Caboolture, Wamuran and Beerburrum by 6:50pm,” it said.
At the storm’s peak, more than 18,000 homes were left without power across the Brisbane City, Moreton Bay Regional area.
Energex says that at 7.30pm, 16,000 properties remain without power.
KEY POWER OUTAGES
Brisbane City, 9173
Logan City, 4063
Moreton Bay Regional, 2171
Southeast Queensland SES received 85 requests for assistance mainly relating to trees down and flash flooding, 42 calls coming from the Ipswich area alone.
Energex reported 100 powerlines down which were damaged by falling debris, mostly owing to the strong winds in the Brisbane area.
Approximately 100,000 lightning strikes were recorded during the storm, the highest recordings were in areas such as Ipswich, The Gap, and Karalee.
Emergency services were called to a home which had three trees fall on to the middle of the roof at Fitzgibbon, there were no injuries and the residents required a hotel overnight.
Roads and public transport were heavily affected, with debris falling onto train lines at Ferny Grove, and flash flooding closing all lanes temporarily on the riverside expressway.
Alternative buses were provided for customers at Ferny Grove to transport them to unaffected stations.
Emergency services responded to a tree that has fallen on top of a vehicle on Moggill Rd, near Kenmore.
TransLink is reporting delays to all bus services in Brisbane’s CBD of at least 20 minutes owing to the severe weather conditions, these delays extend as far south to Crestmead, near Logan.
In Ferny Grove, a gigantic gum tree has come down across the road at Ferny Way, while trains are also stuck at Grovely with no power, and the platform is under water.
“The train station at Ferny Grove is inundated with water with trains unable to pass through,” a TransLink spokesman confirmed.
There are delays of up to 60 minutes for customers in both directions on the Ferny Grove line.
Replacement commuter buses are now in operation for the Ferny Grove Line to transport passengers between affected stations.
Trains were suspended at Bald Hills owing to a signalling issue, customers were initially experiencing up to 30 minute delays, that issue is now resolved.
Ipswich/Rosewood line trains travelling inbound were suspended between Goodna and Wacol stations due to an object in the overhead line equipment but have since resumed.
Mitchelton, Caboolture, and Redcliffe all recorded 61mm of rain in 30 minutes, while Greenbank recorded 73mm in 30 minutes.
Damaging winds and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding are likely, the Bureau says.
Bureau Meteorologist Rosa Hoff said temperatures in the southeast will fall tomorrow but the Central West will stay above average until the weekend.
“Yesterday and today have been the peak of the heat particularly around the southeast but we are expecting the heat to linger out in the west for another couple of days yet and they’re not going to completely return to average further inland until at least after the weekend at this stage,” Ms Hoff said.
“Because we have had some showers and storms rolling through in recent days it means there is more moisture around, catchments are more saturated and the ground is a bit wet so when it gets warmer it evaporates, gets quite humid and if there isn’t much of a breeze around to blow it away it can get quite sticky,” Ms Hoff said.
But a south-easterly change will bring some cooler temperatures and potentially bring a few storms up with it.
“For the southeast today will be the last day for that warmer weather until some cooler air creeps up from New South Wales and eases those temperatures up from midnight tonight,” she said.
“We have the possibility of seeing some severe storm development from the Sunshine Coast and down including the Gold Coast area out to about Toowoomba but not pushing much further out than that.”
The storms could pick-up from late Tuesday morning and continue into the afternoon.
Top Temperatures at 2.50pm
Urandangi 41.2C
Birdsville 40.7C
Longreach 38.2C
Emerald 37C
Gatton 37C
Blackall 36.7C
Chinchilla 36.4C
Amberley 35.5C
Brisbane 32.1C
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