Sunshine Coast Mayor Rosanna Natoli is urging people to take care as they clean up after yesterday’s wild storms across south-east Queensland.
Around 54,000 customers are still without power in Moreton, 14,000 on the Sunshine Coast, about 9000 in Noosa and 6200 in the Gympie area.
Councillor Natoli said wind gusts of around 98km/h were recorded around the coast and up to 151km/h at Coolum which appears to be worst hit area.
Council and Energex clean up crews are working to clear fallen trees from roads and power lines.
Residents can take green waste to refuse tips free of charge .
Around 600 power lines were still down earlier this morning.
You can head to the Energex and Ergon power outage websites to get updates…the next is due at 8 o’clock tonight.
Due to the extent of the damage it may take until late tomorrow to restore power in the worst affected areas.
Two helicopters are being used to assess the damage to power infrastructure in hard to reach areas of the south-east.
Resources are being brought in from outside the region to assist with the recovery.
Train services have also been disrupted with delays of up to an hour on the Sunshine Coast and Caboolture lines.
Meanwhile, Bribie Island appears to be one of the hardest hit areas in Moreton, with a caravan park at Woorim suffering substantial damage.
At least one roof was blown off a house in the suburb while a car was flipped and trees blown onto caravans, cars and homes.
Moreton Mayor Peter Flannery said Bribie was cut off during the storm due to fallen trees.
He said there are problems with the mobile phone network which has made it difficult to fully assess the extent of the damage.
Councillor Flannery said people were trapped in their cars by fallen power lines at the height of the storm.
Council libraries in Moreton are open as refuge centres today for people whose homes are damaged or have no power.
The weather bureau is forecasting more severe thunderstorms across the region today.
