South East Qld hit by more storms on Tuesday night

South East Queensland has been shaken and drenched by another round of severe storms overnight, with 39,000 homes still without power after Monday’s “nuclear” event.

• Blackout: Power outage latest
• Swept away: Port emergency

Queenslanders smashed by Monday’s “catastrophic” supercell hailstorm were impacted once again on Tuesday night as multiple stormfronts once again swept through the southeast.

As more than 39,000 remain without power following Monday’s storm, which delivered 12cm hail and 150kmh winds, a new wave of severe storms smashed the southeast with a barrage of lightning strikes, damaging winds and heavy rain.

More than 100mm of rain was recorded in places overnight, with Gayndah (110mm) and the Glasshouse Mountains (91mm) the worst affected.

Severe thunderstorm warning, issued at 9.45pm. Picture: Bureau of Meteorology

Residents on the Gold Coast reported multiple lightning strikes, some of which “felt like an earthquake” as they hit, as the long band of severe storms swept across the southeast corner of the state.

By 10.30pm the storms had unleashed heavy rains and relentless lightning strikes across the Brisbane region, and were forecast to impact Strathpine, Redcliffe and the ranges between Gympie and Murgon by 11.20pm and Caloundra, the area southwest of Caloundra and the area southwest of Gympie by 11.50pm.

Lightning hits the Gold Coast overnight. Picture: Hussain Photography via Higgins Storm Chasing

Severe thunderstorm warnings were cancelled by 1.50am, but heavy rain continued in many places through the night.

The Moreton Bay region, which copped the worst of the damage from Monday afternoon’s storms, also received some of the night’s biggest rainfall totals, with Wamuran (68mm), Laceys Creek (62mm), Dayboro (62mm) and Elimbah (60mm) recording the biggest totals.

Residents in Dalby and Meringandan West captured huge lightning bolts on Tuesday night. Picture: Higgins Storm Chasing

Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast were also drenched, with 61mm of rain falling at Beerburrum and 23.6mm at Archerfield.

Spectacular lightning scenes over Burnside on the Sunshine Coast. Photo: Phil Johnson Imagery

The bureau warned flash flooding was also possible when heavy rain hit already soaked catchments.

More than 39,000 southeast Queenslanders remain without power following Monday afternoon’s battering, that saw power going out to 160,000 customers at its peak.

Moreton Bay is by far the worst-affected region, with more than 23,000 customers still waiting for the lights to come back on, while Noosa (7230), Sunshine Coast (3865) and Logan (2808) are also still impacted.

State Emergency Services were called to 529 jobs for help since 12pm on Tuesday with 81 per cent of the tasks structural damage relating to hail or fallen trees.

About 11 per cent of the tasks were fallen trees without structural damage where it affected a road or obstructed driveways.

Brisbane City had the most requests with 169 callouts, followed by Moreton Bay City with 148, Redland City with 85, Logan City with 59 and Sunshine Coast Regional with 26.

Millions of Queenslanders were in line for another wave of severe thunderstorms. Picture: Windy

The battering is predicted to continue across the southeast throughout the week as a trough remains slow-moving, with another system extending from the southwest before moving off the coast by Friday.

Weather forecaster Higgins Storm Chasing said the severe storm outbreak would continue through the week until Saturday.

“All different times of the day and night, all modes of severity from more large to giant hail, damaging winds and heavy rain et,” the forecaster said.

Mr How said the latest threat came after storms formed over the Northern Tablelands in NSW and intensified as they tracked northwards into Queensland yesterday.

“It was another very active thunderstorm day across Queensland and severe thunderstorm did cause quite a bit of damage to trees, properties and disruptions to travel and transport,” he said.

A 13cm hailstone that fell at Chandler in Brisbane. Picture: Higgins Storm Chasing

Giant hailstones up to 12cm were reported across the southeast.

“With these thunderstorms coming through, we did see hail of 11 to 12 cm in diameter at places like Manly in Brisbane suburbs as well as Ferny Hills and Alexandra Hills,” Mr How said.

“We also did see 8cm hail at The Gap, and many other locations all the way from the Gold Coast and up towards Brisbane did see hail of 5cm to 8cm right through the afternoon and also the evening.”

Pockets of heavy rain caused flash flooding, accompanied by wind gusts of 110km/h.

“Moreton Island had the highest rainfall of 80mm, of which most fell within 30 minutes,” Mr How said.

“We also saw 50mm-plus up around Hervey Bay and the Wide Bay area. Around Brisbane, we did see 40 to 60mm around the airport and closer to the CBD, we did see about 20 to 30mm.

“Also, it also was very windy right across the city. We had wind gusts between 80km/h and 110km/h. This includes a gust of 107km/h at Brisbane Airport, and up the coast we did also see wind gusts of 100km/h in Maroochydore and 120 km/h Gladstone.”

Originally published as South East Qld hit by more storms on Tuesday night