Australia’s east coast is continuing to battle “very dangerous” storms, with severe thunderstorm warnings now in place for Queensland, New South Wales and parts of western Victoria.
Thousands of people were left without power overnight and dozens of rescues were taken out after communities were inundated with water amid wild weather.
Residents have been told to brace for continued severe thunderstorm activity until at least Boxing Day, with heavy rain, large hail and destructive winds forecast right across the eastern states.
In Victoria, 17,000 people across regional Victoria lost power overnight after storms lashed the state, Powercor confirmed.
The outage continues to affect hundreds across the state this morning and has affected homes across the state’s north, central and western regions, after winds and lightning felled trees.
In New South Wales, emergency crews responded to almost 500 calls for help on Christmas Eve, including 25 separate flood rescues.
The majority of the rescues occurred following heavy rainfall in the Sydney and Illawarra areas.
NSW SES Acting Assistant Commissioner Allison Flaxman urged residents to stay safe amid a forecast repeat of wild weather on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
“There is a possibility isolated heavy rainfall totals will exceed 200mm in some parts, which will bring a risk of flash flooding,” Flaxman said.
“NSW SES has prepositioned assets and has flood rescue teams prepared to respond should they be required.”
The most intense storms are unfolding in southeast Queensland, where heavy rainfall, giant hailstones, and damaging wind gusts are developing, according to Weatherzone.
Scattered and widespread severe thunderstorm activity has been forecast for Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria over Christmas and Boxing Day.
The conditions are likely to produce heavy rainfall, large-to-giant hail, and damaging-to-destructive winds over the coming two days, including Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Sean Kearns NSW SES assistant commissioner told drivers not to travel through flood waters.
“On Christmas Day, a lot of people on the roads are going around to visit their family and friends and we asked them to pay attention to the weather and to drive to the conditions,” he said
South-east Queensland is cleaning up after severe weather brought hail, creating a “white” Christmas.
More than 55,000 properties were plunged into darkness yesterday as fallen trees caused havoc to the energy grid.
About 120 powerlines were still down across the region on Christmas Eve.
Dozens of roads were out of action in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.
The small community of Gatton, west of Toowoomba, copped the worst of it.
Hail stones were more than 10 centimetres in size and smashed Dianne Castledine’s solar panels.
“I have never seen hail like this before, never ever in all my years of driving I have never had hail damage to my car.”
The Wivenhoe Dam west of Brisbane received 58 millimetres in just 30 minutes and the area saw more than 200,000 lightning strikes.
(9 NEWS)
