Severe storms ‘likely’ as 77,000 still without power

Almost 77,000 properties in south-east Queensland were still without power on Tuesday afternoon after wild storms lashed the region, with people warned to brace for more severe weather.

BOM advised on Tuesday afternoon that severe storms were likely for the Brisbane area on Tuesday and into Wednesday, bringing heavy rain, large hail and damaging winds.

The Insurance Council of Australia has declared the hailstorms and strong winds from Sunday to Monday an insurance catastrophe, with more than 16,000 claims lodged across more than 140 postcodes.

On Tuesday, 11 state schools were closed, with some suffering extensive water damage to buildings, access problems and uneven footpaths, and trees down.

Another 47 schools had significant IT issues, but remained open.

Schools closed were:

• Banksia Beach State School
• Beachmere State School
• Bribie Island State High School
• Bribie Island State School
• Churchill State School
• Dakabin State School
• Darling Point Special School
• Griffin State School
• Mount Kilcoy State School
• Walloon State School
• Woody Point Special School

A fallen tree on Sir Fred Schonell Drive, in St Lucia, on Monday afternoon.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt

Energex reported some 77,000 south-east Queensland customers were still affected by power outages at 1.30pm on Tuesday.

Danny Donald, from Energex, said crews restored power to 70,000 properties overnight, but warned it could be at least one or two days until some of the worst-affected areas, particularly in the Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast regions, had power restored.

“We’ve got another 300 crew out there today, plus we’ve got additional crews coming in from Toowoomba and the Wide Bay, Hervey Bay region, so we are throwing everything at it,” he told 4BC radio.

Hail in Ferny Hills on Monday.

“The worst-affected area, of course, is anywhere northside of Brisbane up to the Sunshine Coast.”

But Donald warned power restoration would be more of a marathon than a sprint.

“They’re going absolute clappers to get this sorted ASAP, but it’s going to be a day or two yet,” he said.

A Moreton Bay Regional Council spokesman said damage to the city’s power infrastructure was significantly worse than other areas of south-east Queensland, with more than 400 SES jobs in the area, 21 council roads closed and seven main roads closed.

A tree that fell onto power lines during Monday’s severe storms.Credit: Energex

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said hail up to 11 to 12 centimetres in diameter was recorded at Manly, Ferny Hills and Alexandra Hills on Monday, with pockets of heavy rainfall across the region.

And he warned more storms were expected on Tuesday.

Moreton Island had the highest rainfall of 80mm, most of which fell within 30 minutes, with about 40mm to 60mm near the Brisbane Airport, and there were reports of flash flooding.

How warned a thunderstorm was likely on Tuesday afternoon or night, possibly severe with damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain, which might lead to flash flooding.

“And this could affect places that were impacted quite heavily last night,” he said.

Brisbane was expected to reach a high of 35 degrees on Tuesday.

Queensland Association of State School Principals president Pat Murphy said several schools went into lockdown as the severe storms hit right on end of school-bell time on Monday.

“We had parents out the front of schools … our prime concern is the safety of kids,” he said.

Murphy acknowledged the teachers and teacher aides who stayed with students before they could be picked up, which was for “well over an hour” at some schools.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.