Parts of south-east Queensland have been hit by giant hailstones, lightning and rain, with the region urged to remain alert for more storm activity throughout Saturday night and into Sunday morning.
Thousands of the region’s residents will enter the night without power after severe storms moved through the area during Saturday afternoon.
Large hailstones of up to 9 centimetres caused damage to cars and homes in several towns after what the Bureau of Meteorology characterised as a “widespread thunderstorm outbreak” across the south-east.
Large hail caused damage to cars in Esk. (Supplied: Jon Betts)
Paramedics took a woman in her 30s from the Esk area, north-west of Brisbane, to hospital in a stable condition after she received head and neck injuries in the storm, while eight other people were assessed for hail-related injuries.
A man in his 20s, a woman in her 20s and another woman in her 30s were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Damage to homes from the hailstorm was also recorded. (Supplied: Jon Betts)
At Pratten, west of Warwick in the Southern Downs region, 9-centimetre giant hail — large enough to cause damage to cars and homes — was reported about 1pm.
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At MJ’s Cafe in the rural township, about two-and-a-half hours west of Brisbane, opening day turned chaotic when “tennis ball-sized hail” hit.
Owner Richard Manley said the roof was entirely “smashed in” when the storm moved quickly through town.
Mr Manley says he has been left with a huge clean-up, with “almost tennis ball-sized” hail falling. (Supplied: Richard Manley)
“We basically had everyone huddled in our kitchen area because the roof came down in the actual bar area,” he said.
“There was golf ball-sized hail coming into the bar smashing into the counter.”
The giant hail caused damage to windscreens in Pratten. (Supplied: Richard Manley)
Several motorists with smashed windscreens pulled in seeking shelter, he said.
“We had about 30 people who were driving past, their car windows getting smashed and they saw refuge and they just pulled in,” Mr Manley said.
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Toowoomba region suffers damage
In Clifton, near Toowoomba, Julie Blurton had golf ball-sized hailstones smash through the skylight and windows at her cafe about 2pm.
The storm turned the sky grey as it passed near Greenmount, in the Toowoomba region. (Supplied: Emma Tigges)
“There’s crockery that’s all been smashed from the hailstones coming in through the roof,” she said.
Ms Blurton said the storm came in two waves and moved quickly, lasting for 20 minutes and leaving a trail of destruction behind it.
Motorists were forced to pull over near East Greenmount due to poor visibility on Saturday afternoon. (Supplied: Trent Frecklington)
She said many of the trees in the street were stripped bare and parked cars had their windows shattered.
“It’s all a very big mess,” she said.Loading…
The Bureau of Meteorology said the storm activity near Toowoomba could be categorised as a supercell.
Senior meteorologist Harry Clarke said the weather bureau had kept a close eye on that supercell which had produced “giant hail” in parts of the Darling Downs.
Lightning seen from The Gap in Brisbane. (Supplied: Ben Slatter)
He said lightning had been reported from Strathpine in the Moreton region all the way to the New South Wales border.
Lightning and rain hit Brisbane about 3pm.
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More than 6,000 people across south-east Queensland were without power at 7pm on Saturday night, according to Energex and Ergon.
The Toowoomba, Brisbane and Western Downs areas were among the most heavily impacted.
The storm was still brewing near Munbilla in the Scenic Rim around 1:40pm. (Supplied: Natalie Ward)
In the Scenic Rim, 2-centimetre hailstones were reported at Mount Walker.
A wind gust of more than 100 kph was recorded at Dalby Airport at 4:15pm.
Flash flooding still a risk
Lightning strikes were captured from an apartment balcony in Brisbane on Saturday. (Supplied: Cedric Chu)
The bureau issued thunderstorm warnings for large parts of south-east Queensland, the Darling Downs and the Granite Belt, the Wide Bay and Burnett, as well as parts of central Queensland.
Meteorologist Christie Johnson said some storm activity was expected to continue throughout the night, although it was anticipated to “ease off”.
She said there was an “increased risk” of heavy rainfall late throughout Saturday night that increased the likelihood of potential flash flooding.
Storm activity was forecast to move further north late on Saturday and into Sunday, the BOM said, and people were encouraged to stay up to date with the latest warnings.
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