THE Bureau of Meteorology has warned of "very dangerous" thunderstorms with large hailstones tracking north towards Brisbane, Ipswich and Logan, forecast to hit Ipswich by 5.50pm.
5.20pm: People in Brisbane and Ipswich, and parts of Logan, Gympie, Ipswich, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Scenic Rim and Somerset areas have been told to brace for damaging wind, heavy rainfall and large hailstones.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that "very dangerous" thunderstorms with large hailstones were detected at Bundamba Lagoon, and are tracking north.
The storms are forecast to hit Ipswich, Lake Manchester and Upper Brookfield by 5:50 pm and Strathpine, Lake Samsonvale and Dayboro by 6:20 pm.
Meanwhile, approximately 8,987 homes and businesses are without power on the Sunshine Coast following a smaller storm cell that hit at 4pm.
Energex said it was working to restore power as soon as possible, with a further 281 households without power across Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley and Somerset.
3.54pm: The Weather Channel has warned a second band of storms is headed towards Brisbane, as the first cluster of severe storms moves in on the Sunshine Coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology warned at 3.35pm that the thunderstorms had hit near Maroochydore, Caloundra and the NSW border, and are tracking northeast.
Lightning strikes Brisbane. Picture: Ben Baker
They are forecast to hit the area south of Noosa Heads, Kenilworth, Yandina, Coolum Beach and Eumundi by 4:05 pm and Noosa Heads and Pomona by 4:35 pm.
But Richard Whitaker from the Weather Channel warned Brisbane "was not out of the woods just yet".
"There is another line of severe storms that is developing from Toowoomba and moving southwest into the city," he said.
He predicted the storms could potentially affect the Brisbane metropolitan area within the next two hours.
12.15pm: A CLUSTER of "very dangerous" storms have hit north of Brisbane with reports of strong gusts and hail pounding the area.
Storms have already dropped 3cm hail at Caboolture at 2.20pm, 4cm hail at Jandowae at 1.50pm and 2cm-3cm at Yamanto at 1.10pm.
The Bureau of Meteorology said that, at 2.20pm, "very dangerous thunderstorms were detected on the weather radar near Beerburrum".
The Bureau said the storms are forecast to hit the area southeast of Caloundra and northern Bribie Island by 2.50pm.
Other severe thunderstorms were located near Caloundra, the area east of Somerset Dam and the area northeast of Jandowae.
They are forecast to affect Dayboro, Mount Mee, Bauple and the ranges north of Jandowae by 2:50 pm and Caboolture, the area northwest of Kingaroy, Wamuran, Cape Moreton, Toolara and Tin Can Bay by 3.20 pm.
GALLERY: All the images from both Brisbane storms
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Jonty Hall said of biggest concern, were storms striking near Dayboro and Somerset Dam.
There have also been reports of strong storms east of Ipswich, west of Greenbank, west of Dalby, Biggenden and Gin Gin.
He added severe storms were tracking towards Strathpine and Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, while most of Logan City was under threat.
He said there had been reports of hailstones 2cm to 3cm wide at Yamanto in Ipswich.
Small hailstones hit Caloundra as bucketing rain pelted down about 2.15pm Sunday.
After an earlier sunny break in the weather, thick dark clouds took over the southern end of the Sunshine Coast as a thunderstorm passed quickly over the region.
Heavy rain was experienced but the winds were not damaging.
The storm took down this large tree in Langley Avenue, Wilston. Picture: Simone Rosengren
Energex said there had been reports of 6,300 lightning strikes cloud to ground since 8am.
Approximately 300 households are still without power.
Send us your storm pictures via email to cmonline@qnp.newsltd.com.au or MMS 0428 258 117 (include your full name with MMS for attribution)
Earlier, lightning strikes sparked between 10 and 15 grass fires southwest of Brisbane.
A Queensland Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said the fires were burning in several locations including Ravensbourne.
"They are going pretty much everywhere but it doesn't say how big they are," the spokeswoman said.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jonty Hall said storm activity was beginning and was tipped to "heat up" from lunchtime onwards.
"At the moment it is still unstable, with showers and thunderstorms and a few storms developing now," he said.
Lightning strikes as seen from Woody Point Jetty looking west. Picture: Paul Hruby
"It's a lot weaker than yesterday at this stage, but could become quite severe out west from lunchtime."
He said the area from east of the Darling Downs across to the coast, and as far north as the Fraser Coast, may be hit by damaging winds and heavy rainfall.
Services are returning to normal on the Caboolture line after a power outage between Petrie and Caboolture stations on Sunday morning.
A Translink spokesman said trains had resumed following the outage at 7.30am but commuters should expect residual delays of up to 15 minutes.
Commuters have also been warned to expect some minor delays for buses and trains today "due to debris and flash flooding".
"We've got a blanket alert for all services, and encourage customers to stay safe when boarding and exiting services," the spokesman said.
Brisbane Airport is also recovering from delays after storm activity halted operations on the tarmac this morning.
GALLERY: All the images from both Brisbane storms
"There was earlier a restriction on moving people on the tarmac due to the risk of lightning strikes," said Leonie Vandeven from Brisbane Airport Corporation.
"It meant the baggage handlers couldn't unload or load, which can contribute to delays."
"But (after 10.35am) the warning lights were lifted and they are getting back into operation now."
Lifeguards have closed Bribie Island's main beach due to ongoing lightning strikes in the area. Sunshine Coast beaches remain open.
Queenslanders this morning woke up to survey the damage from the two severe storm cells that ripped through the southeast yesterday.
The strongest storm developed in the eastern Darling Downs region, near Pitsworth, where hail of up to 10cm in size pummelled the land.
"Fortunately, though, that stayed mostly rural, and didn't come into any built-up areas," Mr Hall said.
"That was the main storm from yesterday. Apart from that, we had some pretty heavy rain fall as the storms merged and pushed eastwards."
The Lockyer Valley received the highest rainfall with 114mm dumped yesterday.
Meanwhile, in Brisbane, Alderley recorded 90mm, and Toowong had 88mm.
Check out the incredible show mother nature put on in Brisbane. Courtesy: DJMSKINART- Brisbane Chemtrails
Gusts of up to 90km/h also blew across Moreton Bay – the highest recorded reading yesterday.
Home Roofing Brisbane owner Carl Yaxley said the company had been flooded with 30 to 40 calls from homes and businesses complaining of roof leaks.
"Since about 10am yesterday, we have been getting a lot of calls about roofs that have flooded, and trees going through tiled roofs" he said.
The worst damage he saw was a commercial business in Herston where the gutters were so choked by leaves the water overflowed into the ceiling cavity.
"There was so much water the ceiling actually dropped," he said.
"This weather has made a mess – and created a lot of work for insurance companies."
Mr Yaxley said "no one" was prepared for the intensity of the storms when they hit.
"That's the first thing they said – people were very, very surprised," he said.
The owner said the roof repair company has rostered six people on call to cope with the extra work.
DAMAGE DONE: Anne Thomson lost her Kelvin Grove market stall but was still smiling. Picture: Annette Dew
Send us your storm pictures via email to cmonline@qnp.newsltd.com.au or MMS 0428 258 117
"But I don't think we'll see the real volume until Monday or Tuesday (when the home owner gets on to the insurance company," he said.
An Energex spokeswoman said the company had restored power to 6,500 homes and businesses across the southeast since 4.30am on Sunday, with a further 400 still without power.
"These were a combination of restoration from the line to the house, but also some fallen powerlines," she said.
"But Energex are turning over jobs really quickly and we are looking for restoration around lunchtime," she said.
She said there had been almost 4,500 ground lightning strikes since 6am.
A Community Safety spokeswoman said emergency services received 173 calls for assistance between 5am Saturday and 5am Sunday.
"These were mostly requests for assistance with leaking roofs, minor flooding and tarping," she said.
"These requests were mostly isolated yesterday to the Brisbane CBD and inner-Brisbane suburbs."
The Lego Robotics competition is disrupted as a wild storm hits the Kelvin Grove campus of QUT.
Meanwhile, the weather bureau has come under fire for failing to issue a specific warning about yesterday's freak Brisbane storm until after the damage had been done.
The bureau had warned that storms were likely to hit during the day, and at 8.20am a forecaster told couriermail.com.au they were expecting "the main round of thunderstorms will develop from about the middle part of the day".
But as the freak storm began to form minutes later, the bureau fell silent.
GALLERY: All the images from both Brisbane storms
From 8am, amateur weather watchers were warning on web-based forums about the intense cell systems that were forming at Inglewood and moving towards the coast.
By 10am it was clear to anybody watching the weather radar on the bureau's own website that a big storm was headed towards the city - and Energex's lightning tracker recorded more than 1000 strikes during the next 30 minutes.
People started leaving comments on the bureau's Facebook page to ask for a storm update. But still the bureau remained silent.
The front of the storm smashed into the suburbs about 10.30am, with its massive winds described by those in its path as a freak storm much stronger than the usual summer blows.
See how the storms developed yesterday, with rolling coverage from 8am till midnight
COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE: Amie Neil's car is even more compact after the wild storm passed through Spring Hill. Picture: Annette Dew
Another 2000 lightning strikes later, the bureau issued its first specific warning about the storm.
By then the front of the storm had passed over the inner-western suburbs and the central business district and was almost at the coast.
In a statement, the bureau's Queensland regional director Rob Webb defended the timing of the warning.
"The short duration - from minutes, and often less than an hour - and very localised nature of thunderstorms makes them difficult to predict in detail with a long lead time," he said.
Send us your storm pictures via email to cmonline@qnp.newsltd.com.au or MMS 0428 258 117
"Early Thursday morning the bureau's forecasts for southeast Queensland picked up on the underlying meteorological conditions to indicate severe storms could develop over the weekend, and this was reported in regular radio crosses and news bulletins on Friday.
"As the storm approached the Brisbane CBD, it started to show signs of severe storm characteristics and forecasters issued warnings.
"The Bureau of Meteorology doesn't aim to issue warnings for every thunderstorm, but uses thresholds to ensure there isn't complacency in the community due to over-warning."
But the bureau's Facebook page was inundated through the day with critics.
GALLERY: All the images from both Brisbane storms
The bureau was quick to issue frequent severe storm warnings during the afternoon and evening as another round of storms swept across southeast Queensland.
The evening storm left almost 30,000 homes without power as more than 22,000 lightning strikes were recorded.
- additional reporting by Renee Viellaris and Kathleen Donaghey
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