Brisbane, Australia, was slammed on Thursday by a massive storm that brought high winds, golf-ball sized hail and left more than 75,000 residents without power.
"This has been a ferocious storm, arguably the worst since 1985 for this city," Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said, noting that there were no reports of deaths or any serious injuries.
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Post by Queensland Police Service.
The Australian army was reportedly called in to help clean up the damage, caused by high winds, which included downed power lines and trees across Brisbane, city police said.
@ErgonEnergy @Energex the reason the power is out. #StLucia pic.twitter.com/THmlb5Y3Af— Tim Mahon (@Timerty8) November 27, 2014
Hello freak West End storm!!! Thank god for ANZ under cover parking! Made my purchases at the local boutique and high tailed my car under cover as the hail was blazing! #bne #bneweather #bnestorm #hail #wildweather #rain #summer #qld #qldstoem #bom #bomaus #westend #soaked A video posted by Jenna Thompson (@jenna_thompson) on Nov 11, 2014 at 10:54pm PST
"This is certainly one of the biggest storms we've seen in Brisbane in recent years," an employee with the Insurance Council of Australia said, noting that it had already seen thousands of claims filed across the region.
AFTERMATH of #bnestorm - cars flattened, planes flipped & train lines flooded pic.twitter.com/GbMnEVa7bD (@Amy_Greenbank)— SKY NEWS WEATHER (@SkyWeatherAUS) November 27, 2014
Planes and helicopters at Brisbane's Archerfield Airport were flipped by the winds.
"I'm seeing fences bent on a 45-degree angle and a helicopter flipped at Archerfield. It was grounded, but geez, there's so much damage," one onlooker said of the storm.
The carnage at Archerfield Airport #bnestorm #brisbane pic.twitter.com/SE3HbJNfR7— CK (@C_K_7) November 27, 2014
This just happened... golf ball hail storms v glass building.. Brisbane cbd. Storm season pic.twitter.com/qci3iHM8iL— Jessy Sahota (@JessySahota) November 27, 2014
Brisbane residents shared photos and videos of the massive hail stones raining down on streets, cars and the few unlucky pedestrians caught out in the open.
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Post by Stephen Viller.
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Post by Casey Russell.
Afterwards, they scooped up the giant chunks of ice, and shared pictures of them.
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Post by Naomi Price.
That was a ferocious storm! Huge hail coming in sideways! #7newsQ #bnestorm pic.twitter.com/JnmVj0Fce3— Luke Miers (@Lmiersy) November 27, 2014
Not experienced a storm like that! These glaciers(!) were about 10 mins after in 30 deg heat.. #brisbane #bnestorm pic.twitter.com/TA2h7pzGXC— AndyT2 (@Andyhendy84) November 27, 2014
Holy hailstones! #bnestorm pic.twitter.com/kDbgIDJzpg— lynn mooney (@lynnersm) November 27, 2014
“I always believe in trying to amass the maximum resources as soon as possible,” Newman said of his decision to call in the troops.
@couriermail Premier Newman preparing to do a live TV cross at a church on Linton St, Woolloongabba #bnestorm pic.twitter.com/KOTV4z4AwF— Kerstin Kehren (@kerstinkehren) November 27, 2014
“The trouble with these things, with these Brisbane storms particularly, is they come late in the afternoon and you’ve got the hours of darkness. It’s not ‘til the morning that you get to see the full extent of the damage,” he said.