Severe storms with more than 170,000 lightning strikes hit south-east Queensland

ABC Local
Mon, 13 Feb 2017 22:17 UTC

© Thomas Hinterdorfer

Severe storms snapped trees and damaged at least one house at Toogoolwah.

More than 170,000 lightning strikes were recorded during Monday's storms around south-east Queensland, as the clean-up gets into full swing this morning.

After a weekend of record temperatures, the rain set in on Monday afternoon.

Temperatures dropped 14 degrees Celsius in two hours at Gatton, west of Brisbane, as the storm rolled in.

Storm chaser Thomas Hinterdorfer was at Toogoolawah, west of Brisbane, when the storm hit.

"Complete whiteout, absolute carnage," he said.

The State Emergency Service (SES) was called out to nearly 50 jobs around the south-east.

The SES dealt with a number of tree falls and damaged roofs, while 22,000 properties lost power at the height of the storm.

About half the homes affected were in Ipswich, with the city west of Brisbane being hit with strong winds and hail.

Energex spokesman Rob Preston said extra crews had been rostered to repair damaged power lines.

"A lot of our network is overhead so you're having vegetation coming down on power lines and taking lines down, touching lines together," he said.

"But of course the underground network doesn't get off scot-free, either, because you've got to consider things like localised flooding and things like that."