Thousands of homes without power – and more storms set to smash Queensland
Homeowners across the state’s south east are without power as they mop up the damage from wild storms that unleashed heavy rain, strong winds and giant hail up to 14 centimetres in size.
Emergency crews are battling heatwave conditions as they restore power to thousands of homes and businesses ahead of another round of dangerous superstorms.
Giant hail and cyclonic winds swept Queensland’s southeast on Monday, leaving a wild trail of destruction that damaged homes, shut down public transport and closed schools.
More than 162,000 properties were left without power with crews called in from across the region to help.
About 95,000 were still experiencing outages on Tuesday morning amid warnings some areas may not have power restored for another 24 hours.
“There were more than 600 powerlines down, and Energex counted more than 880,000 lightning strikes during the storms,” a spokesman said.
“The restoration of power is likely to continue late into Wednesday in some areas, due to the extent of the damage and difficult access.”
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Two people were evacuated from a Longela home after its roof was blown off, with more than 2200 urgent calls to emergency services during the storm’s peak.
Many locals took to social media to share images of more carnage, including downed branches and jagged hail stones.
“It was another very active thunderstorm day across Queensland, and severe thunderstorms did cause quite a bit of damage to trees and properties,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Jonathan How said.
“We did see hail of 11 to 12cm in diameter at places like Manly (in Brisbane’s east).”
Thousands of commuters were impacted as trees and power lines were brought down and the rail network ground to a halt.
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Disruptions continued on Tuesday, with major rail delays for peak-hour commuters and 11 schools closed for storm repair. Another 47 schools have been affected by IT issues but remain operational.
Repair work resumed on Tuesday but the stormy conditions were not expected to clear.
As conditions warm up over the day, the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting more severe thunderstorms would lash the region on Tuesday.
Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay are set to endure “very unstable conditions” on Tuesday amid four consecutive days of severe thunderstorms forecast for the state’s southeast.
“It’s not unusual for this time of year, but they can still catch people out, cause significant impacts and cause a lot of damage,” How said of the run of storms.
“We are expecting thunderstorms across large parts of eastern Australia again today, all the way from Tasmania and parts of Victoria and South Australia.
“But the focus will really be across NSW and Queensland.”
In a separate warning posted to Facebook, Higgins Storm Chasing said “storms are likely” with risks of “damaging winds”.
“Storms are likely to become very organised into a solid line and progress east reaching the coastal areas overnight,” the warning said.
“(The) complex storm line is likely to contain … damaging winds, heavy rain and frequent lightning with large hail becoming a lower risk.”
Meanwhile, heatwave warnings are in place for much of the state with temperatures expected to hit the low to mid-40s between now and Wednesday in some places.
-with AAP
