Brisbane power outages continue as more severe storms threaten SEQ
Tens of thousands of Queensland residents are still without power after severe storms battered the southeast on Sunday, with the weather bureau forecasting more extreme weather.
Parts of Victoria and Queensland were plunged into darkness on Sunday afternoon, after severe storms downed trees and power lines in both states.
In Victoria a tornado swept through Melbourne’s west, with Werribee bearing the brunt of the extreme weather as gale force winds and torrential rain battered homes and downed power lines.
Residents in Werribee described the wild weather conditions as “frightening”, with “roof tiles flying everywhere, trees down, roof damage”.
More than 25,000 homes in Melbourne's west lost power. Melbourne also recorded its wettest day in 18 months with 35mm of rain.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of southeast Queensland residents were left without power after severe storms and large hail pummelled the state on Sunday.
As of Monday afternoon, more than 26,000 residents in central and western parts of Brisbane were without power, including Kenmore, Indooroopilly, Chapel Hill, Ashgrove and Fig Tree Pocket. An Energex spokesman said it would take some time until power was restored to all properties.
“Everywhere in that central part of Brisbane and to the west is still a bit of a concern,” said Energex spokesman Brett Judge. “A lot of it’s to do with vegetation, so access, getting there and actually having to clear the areas before crews can start work.”
The destructive storms and winds downed trees and powerlines, battered vehicles with pellets of ice and caused flash flooding, and plunged more than 66,000 homes in Brisbane and Ipswich into darkness. There were close to 800 calls to the SES for assistance from across Brisbane, most from the city’s west.
Toowoomba, the South Burnett and North Burnett regions and Gympie were also hit hard.
Nine schools in Brisbane were closed on Monday.
Temperatures across southeast Queensland and northern NSW also soared on Monday, with Brisbane and the Gold Coast on track to record the hottest October day since 2004.
Senior meteorologist Sarah Scully said temperatures in Brisbane were expected to hit 37C, while the Gold Coast was expected to reach 36C, and warned there was the potential for more severe storm activity.
“Severe thunderstorms are possible (on Monday) through central and southeast Queensland all the way from Mackay down into the Sunshine Coast,” she said. “Those storms may bring damaging wind gusts but also large hail, and there is also a slight risk of giant-size hail.”
Ms Scully said the hot temperatures in the southeast were due to westerly winds which had carried “very hot inland continental air over the area, and that’s caused a surge in temperatures”.
An extreme fire danger rating was also in place across southeast Queensland on Monday, with the fire danger rating “high” for the majority of Queensland.
Ms Scully said a cool change was expected to sweep through the southeast on Tuesday, with maximum temperatures to drop to 22C. Widespread falls of between 30-50mm are also forecast for Tuesday, with the heaviest expected between Maryborough and Gladstone.
“But moving into Tuesday, the winds are expected to shift south ... and bring a much cooler air mass across eastern Australia,” she said.
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