Queensland Storms: 76,000 Households Lose Power After 96 km/h Gust
Severe storms knocked out electricity to more than 76,000 households in southeast Queensland on Wednesday, with Logan recording the largest number of outages. Destructive winds, intense rainfall and hail swept across the region.
Logan bears the brunt
More than 43,000 households in Logan were without power, while outages also affected the Scenic Rim, Moreton Bay Region and Gympie area.
Energex reported more than 400 fallen power lines across southeast Queensland, with further reports expected. A storm partially damaged a substation at Jimboomba, south of Brisbane, disrupting electricity to more than 9,000 properties in the Scenic Rim.
“Crews are ready to go. They're at their depots, ready to go the second it is safe for them to get out and restore power,” Energex spokesperson Danny Donald said.
Heavy rain and hail
The Bureau of Meteorology recorded a 96 km/h wind gust at Brisbane Airport shortly after 5 p.m. Around 80 millimeters of rain fell at Wishart, in Brisbane’s south, in 30 minutes.
Chandler and Leslie Harrison Dam each recorded 75 millimeters of rain over the same period. Hailstones measuring 2 centimeters were seen at Canungra in the Scenic Rim.
Donald said 50,000 lightning strikes had been recorded across the region. Crews were waiting for conditions to become safe before heading out to restore power.
