A powerful supercell storm has torn through southeast Queensland, cutting power to more than 80,000 homes and triggering hundreds of emergency calls after it swept across Brisbane, Logan and surrounding regions on Wednesday afternoon and into the night.
The storm brought with it winds of up to 125km/h, heavy rain, hail and an extraordinary more than 120,000 lightning strikes recorded overnight. By Thursday morning, footage emerging from affected areas showed roofs ripped from homes and trees stripped bare of branches across the hardest-hit communities.
Widespread damage across Logan and southeast Brisbane
The State Emergency Service received more than 300 requests for assistance in Logan alone, with reports of people trapped in both cars and houses as the storm raged. Residents in the suburb of Regent's Park described conditions resembling a tornado passing through their streets, with at least one large tree falling and snapping a power pole in half.
Energy provider Energex logged more than 400 reports of fallen powerlines across the region overnight as crews scrambled to assess the scale of the destruction. The sheer volume of damage reports, combined with localised flash flooding and debris blocking access to many sites, complicated efforts to restore electricity to affected households.
Energex confirmed late on Wednesday that repair crews had managed to restore power to close to 10,000 customers in the hours immediately following the storm's peak, but cautioned that the work was far from over.
"The reality is that thousands will be without power well into tomorrow while our troops scope, make safe and repair major damage," the company said in a statement. "Localised flash flooding and fallen trees are hampering access into many suspected damage sites, and we'll be starting aerial patrols from first light tomorrow over the network south of Brisbane."
Repair crews to work through the night and into Thursday
Energex said local teams were working through the night in areas where it was safe to do so, with additional crews from further afield being brought in as reinforcements from Thursday morning. Aerial patrols were planned to begin at first light to help identify and prioritise the most severely damaged sections of the network south of Brisbane.
The company acknowledged that the combination of flash flooding and fallen trees was significantly slowing access to many suspected damage sites, meaning a full restoration of power across the region was unlikely to be completed quickly.
For households still waiting on repairs, Energex urged residents to remain patient while the scale of the network damage continued to be assessed. The resilience of the electricity network in the face of extreme weather events has been an ongoing conversation across Australia, with questions around how homes can be better supported during prolonged outages.
Community urged to stay safe around downed powerlines
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers, whose electorate of Rankin sits in southeast Brisbane, used social media to acknowledge the work of emergency services and power restoration crews responding to the disaster.
"Make sure you stay safe, don't go near fallen power lines, look after each other, look out for each other, check in on your neighbours, all of the things that we are accustomed to and good at in our local community," Chalmers said.
He added that a clearer picture of the full extent of the damage would emerge once daylight arrived on Thursday morning.
Authorities echoed those safety warnings, urging residents across the affected areas not to approach or touch any fallen or damaged powerlines, regardless of whether they appeared live or inactive. Emergency services also advised people to report any new hazards as crews worked to clear the region.
What to expect as the cleanup begins
With aerial inspections of the network beginning at dawn on Thursday and fresh repair crews being deployed across the region, Energex indicated that progress on restoring power would accelerate through the day. However, households in the most severely affected areas, particularly those in Logan and south of Brisbane, were warned to prepare for outages lasting well into Thursday.
The SES continued to work through its backlog of requests for assistance, prioritising those involving people trapped or in immediate danger. Residents were encouraged to clear debris from around their properties only where it was safe to do so and to continue checking on neighbours, particularly elderly or vulnerable community members who may be struggling without power.
The event stands as one of the more significant storm impacts on southeast Queensland's power network in recent memory, with the combination of extreme wind speeds, lightning intensity and widespread infrastructure damage making the recovery effort a substantial logistical challenge for crews on the ground.
