Thousands without power as Christmas Eve storms wreak havoc

Minor outages were also observed in the affected suburbs, with some residents reporting their power was out for up to a minute before coming back on.

At 4.30pm the Bureau of Meteorology warned of heavy rainfall across the Greater Brisbane Region, including the Sunshine Coast, Southern Downs, Darling Downs and parts of Central Queensland. There was a possibility of hail on the Southern Downs.

Three storm cells were moving southeast. Toowong received 44mm of rain in about half an hour, while Chapel Hill and Kenmore saw less rainfall. CBD also experienced from 15mm to 20mm.

A second cell dropped around 30mm to 40mm just south of Ipswich, while the Sunshine Coast experienced 57mm falling in about 30 minutes.

The storms were expected to continue through the afternoon and into Christmas Day, tapering off overnight but picking up again around 10 a.m.

The heatwave warning has now been canceled and temperatures are expected to ease for the rest of the week.

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