Storms anticipated along entire east coast from north Queensland, through Sydney and down to Melbourne
A major search and rescue effort is underway near Green Island after a boat capsized, while two women are missing after being swept away in floodwaters.
A major rescue operation has launched off the port of Brisbane after the city was smashed by cyclone-like winds and relentless rain on Boxing Day.
Earlier, south east Queensland was warned to brace for another set of storms after a “mini cyclone” swept through parts of Brisbane and the Gold Coast on Christmas night.
Queensland Police Services confirmed multiple rescue boats were responding to a capsized boat off the coast of Green Island, where two people are believed to be missing.
Initial reports suggest up to eight people were onboard when sea conditions turned bad and the boat capsized at about 5:30pm.
In a separate incident, police launched another search and rescue operation for three women who were swept away by flood waters in a “swollen” Gympie river, about 156km north of Brisbane.
One woman, a 46-year-old, made it to safety and contacted police. Two others, a 46-year-old and a 40-year-old, remain unaccounted for.
A search and rescue operation has commenced involving water police, general duties officers, swift water rescue crews and the SES.
Emergency services were called to the Kidd Bridge following reports of three women who had become stuck in flood waters.
A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said the group went missing in the vicinity of Mary River on Exhibition Rd, south of Gympie.
QFES have confirmed multiple crews rushed to the scene where they found one woman washed up on the bank with non-life-threatening injuries.
“There are two people still unaccounted for in a large drain that empties out into the Mary River there,” the spokeswoman said.
Hope Banks Beacon, off the coast of Morton Bay recorded wind gusts of 119 km/hr, reaching the threshold to be classified as a category two system.
Inner Beacon wasn’t far behind, registering a gust of 106 km/h, while Archerfield, still recovering from recent damaging winds, faced another bout with gusts reaching 80 km/h.
On Tuesday the Bureau of Meteorology predicted a high chance of thunderstorms, with severe “destructive” winds and intense rain and hail for parts of southeast SEQ and the Gold Coast.
It comes as two people were killed by fallen trees in less than 24 hours in separate states as wild storms ripped through Australia’s east coast.
Premier Steven Miles said the Christmas storm was “unprecedented”, with more than 123,000 homes without power.
“This is the first time we have seen a storm so intense that it has taken down concrete power poles,” Premier Miles said.
Mr Miles said the Gold Coast council requested a disaster activation, which will be considered by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority this week.
Restoring power to residents could take days, if not longer as Energex crews rush to repair 875 downed power lines, 700 just in the Gold Coast.
“It’s going to take a long time for us to get power back on to everybody’s homes,” he said
There are 123,000 homes without power, 82,000 of those are on the Gold Coast followed by 80,000 here in Logan and another 15,600 in the Scenic Rim.”
Deputy Premier Cameron Dick labelled the storm as a “mini cyclone.”
“That storm front that swept the southeast has caused very significant damage,” he said.
“There have been hundreds of thousands of lightning strikes and that has done very significant damage to our energy and power network across the southeast.”
Jimboomba couple David and Betty Hall said they were lucky to escape unharmed after a fallen tree crushed their home on Christmas night.
Betty Hall said two strangers came to check on them and helped out by moving furniture.
“David went into the lounge and I sort of followed him and then all of a sudden this great big square lump of ceiling came down,” she said.
Mrs Hall said rain began to pour in the house and they were “paddling in water” after the rest of the roof came crashing down.
“I went out near the front door and it happened again … the roof came down and we were just paddling in water.”
“We’ve had some bad storms through the years but nothing like that.”
A man was killed by a falling tree branch on Tuesday in Caringal North East Victoria amid warnings of thunderstorms and flash flooding in the state.
“It is understood a tree branch fell on the man at a private property on Rusks Road just after 9am,” a police spokesman said.
Emergency services provided medical assistance however the yet to be formally identified man died at the scene.
Victoria police said they would file a report for the coroner.
According to the Herald Sun, the man was camping on private property when he was struck by the tree.
Overnight, a Gold Coast woman died after a severe thunderstorm pounded the city, leaving major theme parks closed and thousands of people without power.
Robyn Carman, 59, of Helensvale has been identified as the woman who died after being struck by a fallen tree on Discovery Drive at around 9.27pm on Christmas night.
It is understood her car had broken down and she was making the short walk home but died a short distance from her home.
High acuity response unit critical care paramedic Jaye Newton said ambulance staff responded to a number of major jobs at once.
“The first job was a 59-year-old lady who got struck by a fallen tree in the street,” Mr Newton said.
“She unfortunately suffered a significant head injury and subsequently passed away. We were unable to revive her which was really quite confronting and quite sad.”
Mr Newton described the scene as a “disaster zone”
“We had to drive around trees on the motorway, on Brisbane road and along Discovery Drive
“It was like a disaster zone, there was trees just strewn all over the road.”
A spokesman for Village Roadshow Theme Parks told The Australian that main attractions such as Warner Bros Movie World, Dreamworld, Wet’n’Wild, Top Golf and Paradise Country were forced to close on Tuesday morning due to “severe damage.”
“Our theme parks Warner Bros. Movie World, Wet’n’Wild, Paradise Country and Topgolf are closed due to the damage from last night’s severe storm,” he said.
“We anticipate Movie World, Wet’n’Wild and Paradise Country to reopen tomorrow, but Topgolf may have a longer closure.”
Category Two cyclone-like winds of 100 km/hr swept through SEQ, causing property damage, bringing down trees and more than 500 power lines.
Emergency crews responded to 28 rescues, including people trapped in homes, cars and caravans.
The SES received about 500 calls for help, while 124,000 people lost power at the height of the storm.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Deputy Commissioner Kevin Walsh said winds reached up to 120km/hr and led to “a number of trees falling onto homes, other buildings, and a whole range of situations.”
One Australian town woke to an unprecedented white Christmas on Monday morning as severe hailstorms swept through the nation’s east coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has urged the entire eastern coastline to prepare for a wet and stormy end to Christmas as massive storm cells move through the region.
The coast grappled with “persistent” storms that left thousands of people without power on Christmas morning, with warnings in place for large parts of Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
Residents in some areas are being told to brace for “giant hailstones”, heavy rain and destructive winds.
Locals in Grenfell, a town 370km west of Sydney, reported hailstones the size of “tennis balls” falling and blanketing the ground like snow as a severe thunderstorm drove holiday-makers back indoors.
Asher Woodrow, a local resident of Grenfell spoke to The Australian about how “tennis ball hailstones” fell from the sky and distributed his Christmas lunch plans.
“It was like a winter wonderland, nothing like we’ve ever seen before in Grenfell,” Mr Woodrow said.
“We were just having lunch out on the deck when this big storm started to roll in … then it just bucketed down with hail so hard soon after.”
“It dented all the cars … just about everyone’s car in town, as well as their roofs, got damaged from hail the size of tennis balls.”
Reflecting on the abrupt weather change, Mr Woodrow said “it was about 10am when I looked at the forecast; it was basically going to be a fine afternoon … then we had that freak storm at about 1pm right as when we were having a Christmas lunch.”
“At least we had a white Christmas, it’s something to remember given we normally have 42 degrees here.”
Meanwhile, families from flood-affected communities on the northern beaches of Cairns were forced to celebrate Christmas in unconventional ways this year, with hundreds turning to social events as the clean up continues.
Up to 500 Cairns residents, grappling with the aftermath of ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper, sought solace at community centres as they came to terms with the scale of destruction.
Cooktowns PCYC hosted one such event, doubling down as an evacuation centre for Wujal Wujal residents flown from their community.
Volunteers, including the LNP candidate for Barron River Bree James, were on the front lines of these community efforts.
“If you’ve woken up today and you’ve still got no plans, and life is tough for you right now, please join us,” Ms James wrote on social media.
“Thousands and thousands of meals, gifts, acts of kindness, donations and offers of help has been achieved this week. Today marks 8 days since this disaster hit.”
North of Brisbane, the small towns of Dayboro and Burpengary reported giant hailstones measuring up to 10cm, with the Bureau of Meteorology investigating the possibility of record-breaking 16cm hail in the region.
A total of 211,384 lightning strikes were recorded within 200km of Brisbane on Sunday, including 48,281 ground strikes.
Senior forecaster for the BOM Angus Hines said on Monday there were “10 to potentially 15cm hailstones reported at Burpengary.”
“Hail that size can cause significant damage, with 10cm across that certainly qualifies for giant hail,” Angus Hines said.
“It can cause damage to houses, vehicles as well as crops if it happens to fall on the wrong area.”
If confirmed, this could potentially equal the Australian record set in Yalboroo near Mackay in October 2021, which measured 16cm.
Residents in Grenfell, 370km west of Sydney, have experienced a white Christmas after golf ball sized hail fell from the sky as families prepared for the day’s celebrations.
Locals reported hail 10cm across falling in Grenfell as severe thunderstorms drove holiday-revellers in NSW indoors.
Mr Hines said parts of the state could be hit with “very dangerous” thunderstorms by Monday afternoon with Emerald and the Darling Downs regions in the firing line.
“If we do see severe thunderstorms the rain could be 30-60mm with scattered isolated falls.”
From northern QLD to eastern Victoria, Mr Hines said there was a good chance of severe thunderstorms forming before Boxing Day.
“Storms are anticipated anywhere along the east coast from north Queensland down to Melbourne, with a chance of showers and possibly even severe thunderstorms for a number of our major capitals in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.”
âš ï¸â›ˆï¸Severe thunderstorm #warning update: area shifted east and extending into NSW. Severe thunderstorms may affect Roma, Goondiwindi, St George, Tara, Mitchell, and Surat. Details and updates: https://t.co/FBmpsInT9opic.twitter.com/Wc5Fiynx5O
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) December 25, 2023
“We see the potential for that heavy rain and flash flooding for Christmas Day and even on Boxing Day as well,” he said.
The NSW emergency services responded to nearly 500 calls on Sunday, with dozens of flood rescues taking place across southeastern parts of Sydney.
SES Acting Assistant Commissioner Allison Flaxman urged residents to stay vigilant of a repeat situation on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
“There is a possibility isolated heavy rainfall totals will exceed 200mm in some parts, which will bring a risk of flash flooding,” Allison Flaxman said.
The worst affected suburbs include Pagewood, Botany, Rosebery, Malabar, East Gardens, Mascot and Maroubra.
At least 33 flights in and out of Australia’s busiest airport were cancelled since Christmas Eve.
By 7am on Monday, Sydney Airport’s website showed 23 flights had been cancelled for the day, with the distributions likely to have knock-on effects at other major airports.
Mr Hines also warned of the possibility of a “repeat dose” of flash flooding in parts of Brisbane and Sydney.
“The heavy rain that led to flash flooding in the past couple of days shows the potential in the atmosphere to generate that type of storm and we haven’t seen a big shift in the pattern.”
“Up in Brisbane, heavy localised thunderstorms are likely to form and bring up to 80mm of rain in a short time.”
Wedderburn, a rural town north of Victoria, was cut-off by floodwaters on Monday morning with the Calder Highway between Inglewood and Charlton closed.
A watch and act warning was issued and SES units were deployed to the town with rescue boats to assist people with flooded homes near the Nandoo Creek.
“If you are located in the Wedderburn township, you are in danger. you should immediately move indoors, away from floodwaters. Do not enter floodwater.”
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