SYDNEY (Reuters) -Giant hailstones have rained down in Australia’s Queensland state and more than 95,000 homes were left without power on Tuesday as a powerful spring storm swept through the country’s east coast.
Hail as large as 14 cm (5.5 inches) was reported overnight in the city of Brisbane, the nation’s Bureau of Meteorology said, damaging cars, solar panels and roofs.
The wild weather also produced winds up to 100 kph (62 mph) and more than 800,000 lightning strikes, downing power lines and cutting off power for more than 95,000 customers, energy distributor Energex said.
More severe storms were forecast for Tuesday across south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales as high humidity and hot weather persisted, the weather bureau said.
“Severe storms are still expected today across much of the south-east,” Senior Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury told national broadcaster ABC.
“We’re seeing a very similar set-up today to what we had yesterday.”
Bradbury added that the weather would not be “quite as intense” as on Tuesday, which meant the risk of “giant-sized hail is a little bit reduced compared to yesterday”.
The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued an extreme heatwave warning for northern parts of Queensland, with maximum temperatures expected to be above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
On social media, Queensland residents shared pictures of giant hailstones.
“I’ve never seen such large hailstone here before,” said one Reddit user, posting a picture of a hailstone they said measured 10 cm across and weighed 188.8 grams (6.66 ounces).
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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