Thousands without power as severe storms slam South East

Thousands of people were without power after severe thunderstorms brought large hailstones, damaging winds and heavy rain to the state’s south on Tuesday.

Thousands of people were without power Tuesday night after severe thunderstorms slammed the state’s south, bringing large hailstones, strong winds and heavy rainfall.

At the height of the outages almost 3000 customers were without power at 7.15pm, according to Energex. The most affected areas were Park Ridge (616 customers without power), Greenbank (461), Boronia Heights (424), Logan Village (354), Bannockburn (282), Cedar Creek (250) and Wolffdene (112).

That figure dropped to less than 2300 customers without power by 8.15pm, with more than 1500 of those in the Logan area. There were still more than 1000 customers without power at 11.30pm.

Severe thunderstorms hit much of the state’s south throughout the afternoon and evening, with large hail reported in several areas. Trees were also brought down, including at Lake Moogerah.

The storms had eased by 7.30pm and all severe thunderstorm warnings were cancelled by 8.30pm but Queenslanders can expect more wet weather on Wednesday, with a senior meteorologist warning that isolated severe thunderstorms may lead to flash flooding.

An earlier warning issued by the Bureau of Meteorology at 7.28pm, damaging winds and large hailstones were still impacting parts of Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley council areas.

The severe thunderstorms were moving northeast and had been forecast to impact Mulgowie by 7.40 pm and Laidley and Grandchester by 7.55 pm.

Earlier, several storm cells had moved across much of the state including Cherbourg, Logan, Redland City and parts of Gympie, Somerset, South Burnett, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane City, Ipswich, Scenic Rim and Toowoomba council areas.

A second severe thunderstorm warning was updated at 7.29pm for people in parts of Darling Downs and Granite Belt and Southeast Coast forecast districts.

The BoM said a trough positioned over central to south eastern Queensland continued to generate severe thunderstorms.

“Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds and large hailstones in the warning area over the next hour or two,” the warning said.

Locations flagged were Ipswich, Beaudesert, Gatton, Jimboomba, Laidley and Lowood.

Severe thunderstorms were no longer occurring in the Central Coast and Whitsundays, Central Highlands and Coalfields, Capricornia, Wide Bay and Burnett and Maranoa and Warrego districts and the warning for these districts was cancelled by 7.28pm.

About 39 mm of rainfall was recorded over the 30 minutes to 2.45pm at Karara, west of Warwick.

Queenslanders can expect more wet weather on Wednesday, with a senior meteorologist warning that isolated severe thunderstorms may lead to flash flooding.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast a 95 per cent chance of rain in Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

Senior meteorologist Felim Hanniffy said there “is a risk again” for more severe isolated storms in the South East, which can be expected in the afternoon and early evening.