Almost 30,000 Queenslanders have been left withxjmtzywout power after a freak storm ripped through the state’s southeast.
Trees and power lines were brought down in the chaos along with several roofs being ripped from houses.
A total of 35 State Emergency Service (SES) calls for help were received across the region.
Woodridge, in Brisbane’s south, was the worst affected, with more than 3500 of its homes left without power.
Similarly, Rathdowny, 95km west of Gold Coast, was hit with 52mm of rain in just one hour on Monday afternoon.
Adding to the region’s weather chaos has been a heatwave with temperatures in Brisbane set to hover at 39C with up to 90 per cent humidity on Tuesday.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also warned that the power grid could be put under pressure as the mercury creeps up.
“We do expect to see the peak of use of all of our energy supplies this evening,” she said.
Energy Minister Mick de Brenni said while energy supplies were operating at reduced capacity key infrastructures including hospitals would stay online.
“While we are working with major electricity users to manage demand, households can also take simple steps to help like turning off devices that are on standby and other appliances where it is safe to do so during the evening peak,” he said.
“It is possible that Queensland’s previous record demand of 10,044MW will be exceeded on either today or tomorrow,’ he said.
