Toowoomba Hub: Live blog: Storms sweep southern Queensland

Updated November 17, 2012 21:37:48

A massive storm system is moving through southern Queensland with the Bureau of Meteorology expecting destructive winds, large hail, and heavy rainfall.

Emergency Management Queensland says the immediate danger is on the Gold Coast and around Toowoomba on the Darling Downs.

Hail sized between 8-10 centimetres has been recorded north of Pittsworth, while 53mm of rain fell at Helidon in just 30 minutes.

Follow events as they unfold. All updates in AEDT.

8:38pm: Ergon Energy has told ABC 612 that about 5,000 customers in the Darling Downs and South Burnett have lost power.

8:18pm: Read the latest severe thunderstorm warning for Queensland here.

8:14pm: ABC reporter Josh Bavas tweeted this photo of the radar loop, showing Brisbane is in for a battering again.

7:56pm: Energex says there are still 300 homes and businesses without power in Brisbane.

An Energex spokeswoman says that crews are ready to respond in the Darling Downs if they are needed.

The number to call for downed powerlines is 131 962. Residents reporting power outages are asked to call 136 262.

Earlier today, more than 100 powerlines were brought down by wild weather in Brisbane.

7:40pm: A map from the Bureau of Meteorology showing the projected path of the storm over the hour from 7:15pm:

7:34pm: The weather bureau says that 53mm of rain was recorded at Helidon in the half an hour leading up to 7:10pm.

7:27pm: The latest advice from the Bureau of Meteorology. Read it here:

The Bureau of Meteorology warns that, at 7:15 pm, very dangerous thunderstorms were detected on weather radar near the area between Crows Nest and Cooyar.

These thunderstorms are moving towards the north-east. Very dangerous thunderstorms are forecast to affect Blackbutt, Yarraman and the area north of Cooyar by 7:45pm and the area west of Kilcoy, Moore, Linville, Nanango and the area east of Nanango by 8:15pm.

Other severe thunderstorms were located near Gatton, Grantham, Hampton and the area north of Gatton. They are forecast to affect the area south of Esk, the area south-west of Esk, the area west of Esk and Hatton Vale by 7:45pm and Esk, the area north-west of Esk, Fernvale, southern Lake Wivenhoe, northern Lake Wivenhoe and Toogoolawah by 8:15pm.

7:10pm: Forecaster David Grant from the Bureau of Meteorology told ABC 612 that there have been reports of hail up to 8-10 centimetres in diameter was reported north of Pittsworth.

He says the cell has passed through the Toowoomba region, but rains will continue throughout the night.

"The winds that people might experience ... are winds getting up to 125 kilometres an hour," he said.

"Apart from that the most pertinent things that we have had reports of are that hail has got up to 8-10 centimetres in size. So very large hail."

6:54pm: The Bureau of Meteorology has released a severe thunderstorm warning for south-east Queensland. Read it here.

6:52pm: The Bureau is warning that the storms are moving in a north-easterly direction and are likely to affect Oakey, Jondaryan and areas west of Oakey.

6:45pm: Kelly Pymont, who lives at Millmerran, south-west of Toowoomba, says they have already been hit by a large hail storm.

"It was about the size of golf balls and it lasted for about five minutes," she said.

"There was a lot people running into the pubs to try and get away from it, parking their cars in our drive-through [and] trying to save their cars.

"It's still raining and it's quite windy - pretty dark clouds in the sky."

6:38pm: Brisbane was lashed by a storm cell earlier today. More than 12,000 homes were without power at the height of the storm and the Bureau of Meteorology says there were over 11,000 lightning strikes across the region.

Read our coverage here.