The aftermath of devastating storms has prompted a major cleanup effort across Queensland after the severe weather wreaked havoc, tearing the roof off a wedding venue and disrupting a school fete.
The south-east region is on alert for further destruction tonight, as “very dangerous thunderstorms” are predicted to bring massive hailstones and destructive winds.
Earlier today, hailstones measuring between seven and eight centimeters were recorded west of Brisbane just after 5 p.m., following the severe weather that marred a couple’s wedding day less than 24 hours prior.
This monstrous storm, characterized by hail, wind, lightning, and torrential rain, hit a country wedding on Saturday night, transforming what was meant to be a joyous occasion into a scene of chaos.
Wedding attendee Maddison Hogarth described the suddenness of the storm, saying it “went from zero to 100 really, really quickly.”
In Camboon, within the Banana Shire inland from Bundaberg, 200 anxious guests sought refuge inside a shed, likening the tempest to a tornado.
“There was a lot of fear, a lot of crying, a lot of screaming,” Hogarth said.
But the group soon realised it wouldn’t hold.
“One of my girlfriends, she had her little baby with her, she made the call to bunker under a steel table because she was so scared,” an emotional Hogarth said.
“We had people in cold rooms, we had to put kids in cold rooms. I’ve got goosebumps, it was pretty hard.”
The building was flattened with people still inside but somehow nobody was seriously injured.
“It was insane, very, very chaotic and very scary,” she said
Isabelle Drake barely escaped the line of fire at Esk State School’s fair.
Her partner Caleb Ballard’s injuries are too graphic to show, but he’s smiling through the pain.Â
“I have quite a few welts and bruises along my back and my right hand is pretty swollen.” he said.
Nine people were treated for injuries despite severe storm warnings issued days in advance.
Nearby homes were also in the firing line.
“It literally felt like a tornado and I haven’t been in a tornado, but the noise and the destruction was terrible,” Anne Petersen said.
Storms continue across Queensland
More massive hail, this time up to eight centimetres, hit parts of the state this afternoon.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the monster hail hit in the rural areas of Yarraman and Googa Creek, near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.
As night fell, the bureau warned a “very dangerous thunderstorm” was west of the Sunshine coast and surging north from Blackbutt towards Nanango.
It was “likely to produce large, possibly giant hailstones, damaging, locally destructive winds and heavy, locally intense rainfall that may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding”.
Other storms were heading east near Ipswich and in the Moreton Bay region, with Caboolture and Logan both in the firing line.
Severe thunderstorms were possible across south-east Queensland, rolling as far as north-east NSW.
A severe thunderstorm warning issued for parts of the Central Highlands and Coalfields was cancelled.
The storms weren’t expected to ease until Tuesday.
