Approximately 25,000 households in Queensland's southeast woke up experiencing outages on Monday's dawn after severe thunderstorms swept through the area, bringing strong winds reaching over 100 km/h.
Residents reported substantial frozen pellets reaching sizes of 7cm in certain regions. Weather authorities verified that various areas across Queensland had been affected by significant hail.
The recent thunderstorm has heavily impacted our infrastructure!
Emergency crews were working to restore energy supply throughout the damaged zones, with nearly 70 crews working to handle the numerous electricity disruptions.
Simultaneously, nearly 1,000 residents in Victoria also faced energy failures after the metropolitan area saw its heaviest rainfall in over 500 days.
Emergency response teams responded to 598 requests for assistance across the region, mostly for property damage but also for collapsed vegetation and flooding.
During the peak on Sunday, more than 28,000 power users in Victoria were experiencing outages.
Damp conditions were predicted to continue along significant areas of eastern Queensland this coming days as a atmospheric system continued to pull in damp air against the coast.
The following day was predicted as the heaviest precipitation period, with continued severe weather risk predicted across multiple regions of both areas.
Public health experts cautioned that there was an greater possibility of epidemic thunderstorm asthma across the northern rural areas, particularly given the current weather patterns.
This alert comes after historical occurrences where comparable situations led to substantial respiratory problems in the area.
Agricultural economist with over 15 years of experience in sustainable farming and rural development across the UK.