Two people, including a 10-year-old girl left fighting for life, have been struck by lightning as severe storms smashed Queensland’s south-east.
Paramedics were called to a private property on Clarke’s Road in Beerwah, on the Sunshine Coast hinterland about 2.30pm today.
Neighbours told 9News they heard a loud clap of thunder and shortly after their street was surrounded by emergency services, including critical care paramedics.
The girl was rushed to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in a critical condition.
Later in the afternoon a second person was struck by lightning further south.
The man in his 60s is in a stable condition after being hit at Biggera Waters on the northern Gold Coast.
Emergency services said the man was alert and speaking when they arrived.
Storm damage remains widespread across the region.
The system unleashed about six minutes of fury suburb-by-suburb on Brisbane’s south side.
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The weather system sent caravans sliding and flipped a B-Double truck.
As Energex crews worked to restore electricity to homes from last night’s storm, other houses were cut off, which left about 20,000 without power.
Some of the worst-affected areas include Doonan and Yandina on the northern Sunshine Coast hinterland.
Four-centimetre pieces of hail fell in Beaudesert, west of the Gold Coast, in the short-lived wave of storms.
At Amberley, south-west of Brisbane, 90km/h wind gusts were recorded.
But residents said the effects of the storm were not as severe as what was experienced last night.
”It just really started to rain, the wind went crazy,” Wilson Timbers general manager Caleb Woolridge said.
