Wild winter storm lashes Brisbane, up to 4000 homes lose power
A wild mid-morning storm, bringing hail, strong winds and heavy rainfall, has left up to 4000 homes without power around Brisbane.
The storm is seen over Moreton Bay (ABC image).
Energex says up to 4,000 properties at Ipswich, Toowoomba and Mango Hill lost power this morning when the band of storms swept across south-east Queensland from the Darling Downs.
Energex spokesperson Justin Coomber said a power pole was struck by lightning at High Street in Brassall, causing outages to more than 1,300 homes and businesses.
Almost 1,900 properties had power supply affected when power lines came down at Mango Hill.
“Because the storms cleared quickly, our emergency repair crews have been able to get on the scene fast,” Coomber told the ABC.
Emergency teams were also called into action in the Toowoomba region, where more than 800 properties experienced outages.
Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson Rosa Hoff said the storms, which extended from Caboolture to the border, were fast moving.
“They were not severe storms, and did not produce heavy rain or strong wind,” Hoff said.
“It’s not unusual to see a couple of cold weather storms at this time of year, but they are more common in the southern states.”
No assistance calls were received by the State Emergency Service.
The Bureau warned that more storms were possible from this afternoon through to this evening, between Caboolture and Gladstone.
BOM said rainfall of 12 millimetres was recorded at Upper Caboolture, Deception Bay and Camp Hill.
Further inland, 28mm of rain fell at the Highfields and between 15 and 20mm fell between Oakey and Toowoomba.