LeaB

I heard about the terrible storm in Samford (west of Brisbane) and wondered how everyone who moved there recently have found it - hail the size of golf balls apparently and power out for more than 24 hours! I've read before on this forum that Samford is hot and in a valley so maybe that was part of the reason why the storm hit so hard - anybody know anything?

Ceri

Most people in Brisbane had this storm. Actually I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it. It happened on Sunday afternoon. I was caught out in it whilst I was shopping and had to drive home in it, after it eased a little of course.

I didn't get it as bad as Samford.. also the gold coast had it the worst too. We had the hail with us too but not as big as some parts of the gold coast and samford. It was a bit of a storm with us. Hail, then heavy rain and thunder and lightning. I do not think for one moment why the reason Samford got it the worst is because of it's location... it's just that the way the storm travelled... a bit unlucky that's all
Why I say this is because around 3 or 4 years ago when I was living near Cannon hill (which is just south side of the bridge) we had one of these storms too.. the hail was the size of golf balls, it was quite scary..I actually thought the windows were going to come through, but as it was it only ripped the fly screens. Other people weren't so lucky, there was a lot of houses and cars were damaged. They've also had these storms in Sydney, I think it was the same year as "my" storm a couple of years ago.

Anyway, most people had this storm on Sunday, but the Gold coast and apparently Samford had the worst of it this time with the bigger hail.

Storms are a fact of life in QLD. Last year wasn't too bad (5 years in Qld this is the second time with the hail storms.. the hail is not commonl). Apparently the weather bureau have forecasted that this summer will be quite bad for storms in QLD. (saturday night we also had a cracker of an electrical storm)

Cheers

PeteY

Do you know if anything was damaged in this storm Ceri?

Ceri

According to the news on the TV, the pictures which they have been showing.. some peoples roofs collapsed, trees fallen .. car damage, and one man was killed over the weekend .. he was out in it and a tree hit him.

I'm not sure which parts of the gold coast had the worst as a friend of mine was down near the Indy the weekend and he said he didn't see the tennis size hail. But the worst hit was areas in the Gold coast and then the Samford area.

There was no damage where I am.. just a big storm with the smaller hail.

cheers

dotty

Storms here are just part of summer, nothing spectacular has really happened yet, we were in Bris on the weekend, storm came over, all went dark for 20 mins, mild hail and gone.

The good ones I can remember, left us with so many trees across the road we could not get out the street, 3 foot of water and my friends house full of water higher than the bathtub. Hail way bigger than golf balls, more like tennis ones, coming straight down and leaving stubbie sizes holes in anything they hit. Mini tornado thing coming up our street and smashing most of our windows, and my sister in law loosing part of her roof on her wedding day. We have our own creek it can go from a trickle to 5 foot of water coming down in 10 minutes. Storms here are the best, I absolutely love them. Every house should have a storm kit tho, tarps, torches, thermos of boiled water for a cuppa, radio, those big yellow raincoats etc.

Ceri

What year was that.. the hail storm, I was living South side at the time, so I'm guessing it was around 4 , maybe 3 years ago.. I can't remember. Yes that was a ripper.. I've never seen anything like it.. big hail pounding at the windows, high wind. we were lucky only the fly screens got damaged but some of our neighbours were very unlucky with the damage done to their homes and cars

Yesterdays storm with us(an edit here.. sundays storm!.. I've lost a day lol, I'd don't know if I'm coming or going these days) .. was just a torrential pour .. with hail mixed in, plus the lightning.. nowhere near as bad as a couple of years ago.

cheers

dotty

There was a shocker about 4 years ago, we lost a few windows in it, once again heaps of damage and cars written off. But the tennis ball one was when I first got here, I am quite serious the hail was like weapons, totally dangerous, neighbour had a big plastic outdoor setting, the chairs and table all had these tennis ball size holes in them, the metal roofs even got dented, tiled roofs were just smashing to bits, thousands of cars were written off. I can still remember the noise, it was deafening, hurting your ears, people were actually screaming. Just before it started the sky had turned this weird shade of khaki green, it was like something from a sci fi movie.

All I can say here is get your house fully and properly insured, its totally amazing how many people dont!

Ceri

That is the only storm which scared me. I remember watching it come in too.. it went really dark the sky, weird sort of colour .. like the end of the world. We had the big hail down with us South side. It was amazing.. and I must admit that was the only time I was a bit worried. We actually had to sit out in the workshop away from all windows. sensible . The radio gave us about a 15 minute warning of the storm.

That reminded me of something, you've got to laugh at the warnings... Sunday I was in a shop (the warehouse..lol, only the best will do) and announcement came over the shop speakers .. Not to alarm anyone but we've had word that severe storm is moving up from the Gold Coast it will reach us very soon... well when I hear "don't be alarmed" I'm alarmed!! lol.. It's like saying "don't look" you look!

mr mover

Just part of life in oz, its amazing what this country can throw at you, ....just consider it , a toughing programme....... MM

HiddenPaw

apparently there were over 100 birds and animals killed in a wildlife park on the Gold Coast due to the huge hail stones. Kangaroos and wallabies included. The Herald Sun said hail stones the size of cricket balls.

dmf

Yes what a storm! We could see it coming and within minutes it was upon us. We had to run round closing windows, doors etc... grabbing whatever we could that was outside. The thunder and lightning we had on Saturday was quite amazing but the storm on Sunday was incredible. This was our first experience of an ozzie storm. The electricity was off for 11 hours. We need to prepare ourselves for the next one as having no electricity we couldn't run water (the water pump is electric), cook (we have electric cooktop at the moment - about to be changed). Luckily I knew where all the candles and we were able to light the barbie to cook some sausages for hotdogs! Our garden just looks badly wind swept. We didn't have any trees uprooted just branches off all over the place. Both our neighbours had trees come down. The school bus sign concreted in at the bottom of the drive was knocked over. Lots of roads were cut off due to the amount of trees that were knocked over - not just small trees - huge big trees with almighty roots. Incredible. Driving to work today (2 days later) the trees are still all over the place. We did discover a leak in our playroom roof as the rain was pouring in ! Its being fixed tomorrow before any more storms hit us. The amount of rain in such a short time is amazing too.

Anyway no major damage for us luckily this time.

Dawn

HiddenPaw

DMF, so that's why all Aussies have a BBQ?!

Your post reminded me of Christmas Day 2 years ago at my sisters up near Mildura - we had a power cut for about 5 hours and the oven didn't work - couldn't cook the turkey!. We also had to resort to a BBQ!