By Shari Hams and Molly Slattery, ABC
Energex recorded 880,000 lightning strikes, alongside wind gusts over 100 kilometres per hour. Photo: Unsplash/ Rahul Viswanath
About 90,000 households remain without power, 11 state schools are closed and an insurance "catastrophe" has been declared after giant hailstones, destructive winds and intense lightning lashed south-east Queensland.
Intense storm cells swept through the region on Monday afternoon, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and giant hail up to 14 centimetres in size.
Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek said the schools had been closed due to storm damage, including several at Bribie Island.
"This damage is similar to the types of things that we know happens in these storm events, just as we had with ex-tropical cyclone Alfred," he said.
Another 47 schools were dealing with "significant IT issues", but Langbroek said they remained open.
The worst power outages were in Moreton Bay, where about 51,000 customers lost power.
Approximately 13,000 homes were affected on the Sunshine Coast, with a further 9,000 in Noosa, 7,000 in Ipswich, 5,000 in Gympie, and around 1,700 in Brisbane.
Energex recorded 880,000 lightning strikes, alongside wind gusts over 100 kilometres per hour.
Spokesperson Justin Coomber said crews worked through the night to restore the network, with new crews deployed to help with restoration efforts.
"We're looking at about 600 powerlines down now, so that's a good indication of how much work has been done," he said.
"When you look at it, it's not just the powerlines. There have been broken power poles, and all of the equipment that is up on the equipment as well."
More than 16,000 insurance claims made
Monday's storms followed severe weather experienced across the south-east on Sunday.
Declaring the events an insurance "catastrophe", the Insurance Council of Australia said more than 16,000 claims had been lodged as of Tuesday.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior forecaster Shane Kennedy said the largest hail recorded was in Chandler, south-east of Brisbane's CBD.
"Certainly lots of places picked up large hail, in the five to 10 centimetre range," he said.
Areas from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast were hit, and about 161,000 properties lost power.
Kennedy said rainfall totals of up to 70 millimetres were recorded in some areas.
"Moreton Island had 79, that was the highest, but also Frank Sleeman Park at Boondall had 77 millimetres, which is just north of Brisbane."
Two people were evacuated from their Loganlea home after the roof blew off, and many properties on Bribie Island were also damaged.
The SES responded to more than 2,000 calls for help, while flights and train services were disrupted.
North coast regional commander Jason Pascoe said the focus was on debris, allowing residents to come and go from their properties.
"We could see large trees across the roadways, damage to vehicles across roofs," he said.
'Roofs have been peeled off'
Bribie Island, north of Brisbane, was among the worst hit areas during Monday's severe weather.
Tony Torrisi was in the area when the storm hit, describing conditions as "cyclonic".
"I'll be honest, I don't get scared but that scared me," he said.
"It just went nuts, trees were falling down everywhere and I was trying to drive side to side, swerving, to avoid them."
Like much of the region, the Bribie Island Caravan Park remains without power.
Park manager Nicole Comrie said she had "never seen anything like it" in her seven years in the role.
"It was a thousand times worse than the cyclone, that was just a shower compared to this," she said.
"Roofs have been peeled off, the trees and the wind has caused the most damage, the trees have totally snapped halfway up."
Destructive winds were powerful enough to tear one catamaran off its mooring at Bongaree.
Robyn Pearce watched the boat run aground as the storm tracked north-east over her suburb.
"It just flew straight into the rocks," Pearce said.
The Bribie Island local said her community had never dealt with a storm "so terrifying".
"Fifteen years ago we had a mini tornado came to come through but it was nothing like this, yesterday was just horrendous."
More thunderstorms on the way
The bureau's Shane Kennedy said conditions would warm up throughout Tuesday, with more severe thunderstorms expected across the south-east.
"Expecting to get up around the mid 30s again… around 33 [degrees] in the city, 37 in the west," he said.
"We will have another round of thunderstorms unfortunately.
"Quite likely to see severe thunderstorms through the south-east later today."
The SES is urging residents to clear gutters and secure loose items.
"Any materials that can be blown around, any outdoor furniture, bring them inside," Pascoe said.
"It's still important for us to take the opportunity to make sure our homes are properly prepared."
- ABC
