Storms sweep through state’s south after overnight downpour
Storms with wild winds, heavy rain and hail up to eight centimetres swept through the state’s south on Sunday, with residents reporting damage and sights they’ve never seen before.
Storms smashed Queensland’s south on Sunday, with eight-centimetre hail and destructive winds causing damage to built-up areas.
Severe storm warnings were issued throughout the afternoon and into the evening. They were cancelled about 8.45pm for South East Queensland and Wide Bay about 8.40pm, but not before they’d smashed areas south of Brisbane, with Logan among the worst hit.
Incredible footage and photos of storm clouds, lightning and hail was shared on social media.
Hail up to 7cm was reported at Canungra, according to the BOM, while hail up to 5cm was recorded at Silver Spur, in the Goondiwindi region, at 4.40pm.
But residents shared images on social media of hail measuring up to 8.5cm, including from parts of Logan, with residents saying the storm was like nothing they’d seen before.
“I haven’t seen hail in Eagleby for the 5 years I’ve lived here,” wrote Nikki Tugwell.
“That storm was hectic here too @ Alexandra hills. Small to medium hail just smashing down. My yard looked like it was full of snow,” wrote Jules Doyle.
Some reported hearing the storm before it hit.
“I have never that kind of noise before. The sound of the hail coming towards us. Plus the sound of the hail hitting the roof and the windows,” wrote Sharon Chandler on a post of hail at Loganholme.
“Yes was it like a continual whirring sound before the hail came? I heard it too & it was so bizarre,” agreed Kristy Breakspear.
“I was so scared it was going to smash my sliding door downstairs but that noise...... I have never heard anything like it,” wrote Jenny Crawford.
Severe thunderstorms earlier swept through the Darling Downs and Granite Belt.
It comes after heavy rain pelted parts of South East Queensland overnight Saturday and into Sunday morning.
The state’s southeast experienced large rainfall totals overnight and into Sunday morning, with Cape Moreton recording 24mm in just one hour while Bellbird Park received 14mm and Dunwich saw 17mm.
Further north towards the Hervey Bay region, Woodgate saw 11mm in one hour, Maryborough 2mm, and Upper Cherwell 20mm.
Weather bureau meteorologist Angus Hines said there were decent falls across the inland and coastal areas of the southeast.
“There was a band of rain that was peppered with thunderstorms that impacted both inland and coastal parts of the southeast. It was moving from the inland, so those spots got that rain first thing in the morning, and then it took a little bit longer to eventually reach the southeast coast,” the senior meteorologist said.
“We did see some reasonable accumulations of rain as the storm moved across those areas.”
The largest totals that we saw since 9am Saturday until 9am Sunday, the most coming from the Sunday morning hours, were 89mm at Inglewood Bridge up in the Darling Downs. We also saw 65mm at Dalmeny.
“If we are looking at the coastal parts … it looks like about 32mm to 45mm around the Sunshine Coast … then around Brisbane itself, in the metro area, mostly about 15 to 25mm. A couple of suburbs in the north and the west recorded about 30mm of rain, so decent falls across the southeast.”
The downpour caused a flight from the US, bound for Brisbane, to divert to Gold Coast Airport.
American Airlines flight AA7, travelling from Dallas Fort Worth in Texas was due to land in Brisbane at 6.30am but diverted due to “adverse weather conditions in Brisbane”, according to Gold Coast Airport.
Passengers briefly disembarked until conditions improved for them to fly to Brisbane.
Mr Hines had earlier tipped more stormy weather for Sunday evening.
“The initial band of weather looks like it will be moving away, leaving some sunshine in its wake, so the day will brighten up quite significantly over the next few hours,” he said Sunday morning.
“Then a little later on the sunshine will once again pave the way for a few thunderstorms. So we could get another round of thunderstorms in the mid-afternoon into the early evening. If we do see a secondary band of thunderstorms they could also tend to severe thunderstorms, bringing areas of heavy rain, damaging wind, and large hail. That will most likely be a little bit north and west of Brisbane.”
He said Brisbane could see another stormy day on Monday.
“But it is the coastal regions that will be favoured for more storms tomorrow. So likely to see showers and thunderstorms again through the afternoon hours in Brisbane, and again there is a risk that we could see some of the thunderstorms be severe,” he said.
“It makes it pretty hard to predict the total rainfall that the city could see because if those storms happen to miss the north or the south, or to the inland, then there will be next to no rainfall outside of those areas, but if it happens to roll right across the city, it could certainly bring 30 to 50mm. So it is a pretty big range.”
Mr Hines said there were possible showers for Tuesday, but it would likely be a much drier day in comparison to earlier in the week, before rainy conditions flare up again on Wednesday.
Originally published as Storms sweep through state’s south after overnight downpour
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