Thousands cop storm damage

MORE than 20,000 homes were left without power yesterday morning after severe thunderstorms battered southeast Queensland after days of sweltering heat.

Areas to the north and southwest of Brisbane copped the brunt of the ferocious storm, with more than 2000 homes at Mudgeeraba still without power yesterday morning. Trees and power lines were pulled down in the Scenic Rim, Darling Downs, Logan and Gold Coast areas on Friday afternoon as the powerful cell moved over the region. Winds of 100km/h Gold Coast storm damage caused most of the damage, while power provider Energex says there were more than 160,000 lightning strikes during the storm.

In the Scenic Rim region at least one house had its roof torn off by the wild weather, with the SES and emergency crews mobilising overnight and into yesterday morning to begin cleaning up the significant damage.

They were expected to be hampered by more wild weather late yesterday with storms again predicted.

The silver lining to the cloudy weather is an overall cooling of temperatures in southeast Queensland, after a sweltering end to the week.

Temperatures on Friday peaked at 35C in Brisbane city but the 60-70 per cent humidity made it feel closer to 40C according to the weather bureau.