A severe storm deprived houses across Moreton Bay of power for up to 24 hours with large hailstones, destructive winds and heavy rainfall wrecking havoc.
And South-East Queensland is bracing for another storm tonight.
A council spokesman says that by lunch today (Tuesday), they were receiving reports of significant damage with powerlines down and more than 600 SES requests for help.
The worst hits areas in Moreton Bay included Bribie Island, Narangba, Burpengary, Morayfield, Griffin and Caboolture with 11cm hailstones falling at Ferny Hills around 3.30pm on (Monday).
All council libraries are now serving as refuges apart from Bribie, Burpengary and Woodford libraries which are closed with no power.
The Bribie Island Recreation Hall at 156 First Ave, Bongaree is also open as an information hub, council says.
Council waste facilities are open as usual and regular waste collection services continue as normal unless roads are unsafe.
STORM DAMAGE
“Damage to power infrastructure is significantly higher than other areas in SEQ. Council is working closely with agencies to address the network outages,” the spokesperson says.
“As at 9.45am (Tuesday), more than 52,000 customers were without power with more than 400 SES call-outs. There are 21 confirmed council road closures and seven state road closures.
“Roads and pathways may be dangerous so be aware,” Mayor Peter Flannery says.
“Council crews were out again this morning inspecting and clearing fallen trees and we are prioritising resources to respond to this work.”
He call for patience from residents as council, SES and Energex work to restore power and safety.
“I myself am still impacted so I know just how difficult it can be without power and managing clean up after storms as severe as we saw yesterday,” he says.
“There is a risk of further thunderstorms this evening but these are currently not expected to be at the same level of severity as yesterday.”
Council says there are no Disaster Recovery Arrangements in place at present.
WHAT TO DO
- Report fallen trees and branches on roads and paths to Council on (07) 3205 0555.
- Report fallen powerlines to Energex on 13 19 62.
- In an emergency, call 000 (Triple Zero).
- For help, call SES QLD on 132 500 or use the SES Assistance QLD App.
- Report water or wastewater impacts at www.unitywater.com/report-a-fault.
- Monitor the weather online if you can at http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/warnings/ or download the BOM Weather app.
- Check council’s Disaster Dashboard for up-to-date details on emergency news, power outages, road closures and weather warnings: https://disaster.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/.
• For more details, tips and emergency contacts, visit www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/Services/Disaster-Management.
