Nearly 25,000 without power in Queensland and outages in Victoria after state’s wettest day in over a year

Nearly 25,000 households were without power in south-east Queensland on Monday morning after a severe thunderstorm passed over the state, with wind gusts topping 109km/h. Residents have reported giant hailstones of up to 7cm in some areas.

Nearly 1,000 energy customers in Victoria also woke without power, after Melbourne recorded its wettest day in a year and a half.

Energex, which distributes power to 1.5m homes and businesses in south-east Queensland, said the storms had caused “significant damage”, bringing wires down across the greater Brisbane region. On Sunday night the company said almost 70 crews were working to restore power.

“This afternoon’s storm has absolutely smashed our network!” the state-owned company wrote on social media. “If you can see wires down, please stay well clear and call 000.”

The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed on Monday morning that regions across Queensland had been hit with large hailstones. Stones about 4cm in size were seen in Ipswich, 5cm in Moorooka and Goonda, 5cm to 6cm in Pullenvale and 7cm in St Lucia.

Other areas in south-east Queensland experienced severe winds, including gusts of about 95km/h in Amberley and Archerfield. Gayndah recorded gusts reaching 109km/h.

Lightning also stopped play during Sunday’s Pacific Cup Men’s rugby league match between Samoa and Tonga in Brisbane, with spectators told to move and shelter as the storm hit.

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Damp conditions were expected to linger along much of eastern Queensland this week as a low-pressure trough continued to draw in moisture against the coast. Tuesday was forecast to be the wettest day.

In Victoria SES officials received 598 requests for assistance across the state, mostly for building damage, but also for downed trees and flooding. Many of those calls have been addressed but the SES was working on more than 100 requests on Monday morning.

An emergency crew cleans up storm damage in the western suburbs of Melbourne. Photograph: Wyndham SES

The most affected suburbs were Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Wyndham, where there were a “pretty significant” 179 calls for assistance, the SES said.

At one point on Sunday more than 28,000 energy customers in Victoria were without power.

Melbourne was also hit by heavy rain. In the 24 hours from 9am on Sunday the city’s weather station at Melbourne Olympic Park recorded 35.4mm of rainfall, the most since April 2024, according to BoM data.

Large hailstones in central Victoria from storms that lashed the state on Sunday. Photograph: Calla Wahlquist/The Guardian

Victoria’s chief health officer, Dr Caroline McElnay, warned that there was an increased chance of epidemic thunderstorm asthma across the state’s northern country region.

In November 2016 Melbourne experienced the world’s largest epidemic thunderstorm asthma event, overwhelming emergency services and leading to 10 deaths.

– with AAP