Lots Of Wind And Rain

After a beautiful day yesterday it began to cloud over just on dusk. There was even some light drizzle. By ten pm it was pouring with rain and the wind was howling across the backyard.

I tipped 33 mls out of the rain gauge this morning and now at about 10 am there is another 5 or 6 mls in the gauge! The wind continues to blow. In just three days we have topped our August rainfall average. This photo is similar to the one I took yesterday, the only difference is about 24 hours!

There are shredded palm fronds around the place and in the pool. The wind comes in gusts and there are gusts strong enough to topple this pot over. Fortunately the fence has saved the pot from being damaged. The strong wind is expected to drop later this afternoon. The beaches will be closed today and in many places the supply of electricity will be interrupted. The electric train from Brisbane is not running to the Sunshine Coast (Nambour) today and the Sunshine Coast Airport at Maroochydore was closed last night and is still closed this morning.

From Today's Local Newspaper:

Winds of almost 100kmh have brought down trees across the Sunshine Coast, leaving thousands of homes without power.

Police said one lucky driver escaped with only minor damage to his car as he managed to brake heavily as a tree came down on Karawatha Drive, Mountain Creek, about 9pm.

Another driver was even luckier when a car came crashing down on his car at Kunda Park at 2am, trapping him inside.

The driver told Mix-FM he was driving home from work when a huge tree fell out of the sky, bouncing off his car as he kept going along about 30 metres. He lost control of the vehicle, sliding onto the wrong side of the road.

A passing motorist managed to rescue him and the driver escaped with only minor injuries.

But he said his car looked like it had a dead man in it and was completely crushed.

A truck also jackknifed during heavy rain on the Sunshine Motorway near Wises Farm this morning, but it is understood nobody was seriously hurt.

Residents phoned in reports of trees being down in Peachester, Sugarbag Road, Caloundra, Kuluin and Coolum but there had been not been reports of any major property damage late last night.

Energex said that throughout the day and night, 68,754 homes and businesses were affected by the extreme weather.

Isolated heavy rain also caused some access issues for crews as they attempted to repair damage, but despite the challenging conditions, dozens of crews safely restored power to the vast majority of customers within two hours of power going out.

At 8.30am today, there were more than 7000 Sunshine Coast customers still without power, with most of those in the Mapleton, Montville, Flaxton and Palmwoods areas, and 1000 in Buderim.

An Energex spokeswoman said crews were hoping to have power restored to most Coast homes by lunch time, however the high winds made repair work more difficult.

The rough weather forced the closure of Sunshine Coast airport last night, with all inbound and outbound flights cancelled, but it is expected to reopen about 10am today.

Rail services north of Caboolture have also been cancelled because of power outages.

Some beaches on the Coast are closed and surfing coach Robbie Sherwell warned that only the most experienced surfers should even consider heading into the ocean.

"There are 3m swells behind Point Cartwright - it's just a huge white-water wall - and there's about 2m of swell behind the Alex Surfclub," he told thedaily.com.au.

A Bureau of Meteorology forecaster said this morning that winds of more than 95kmh were recorded in Maroochydore overnight, while gusts reached around 120kmh further north at Double Island Point.

He said the winds would slowly ease this afternoon, although showers are expected to continue until the end of the week.

The severe storm cell hit the Gold Coast about 11am yesterday, with winds reaching more than 85kmh and more than 100mm falling in the hinterland during the day.

The cell reached Moreton Bay in the late afternoon and the Sunshine Coast around 9pm.

At 11pm, police said they were being inundated with calls from people reporting fallen trees across the road, including at Hunchy Road, Hunchy, on Nambour-Bli Bli Road near Atkinson Road, Pelican Waters Boulevard, and Coolum-Yandina Road, near Apps Road.

Workers with chainsaws made light work of a fallen tree on Yandina-Coolum Road, while earlier police officers kicked away fallen branches on Bli Bli Road.

In Maleny, weather watcher Patrick Stacey said the downpour started at 4.55pm, with the rain quite hard at times but patchy.

“The low has drifted further south, squeezing up the isobars, but (the weather) seems to be just below Brisbane,” Mr Stacey said about 5pm.

“Here, it’s just a nice belt of rain, just what we need.

“It might just be we are on the fringe (of the weather), it would seem.”

Earlier yesterday, the The University of the Sunshine Coast cancelled evening classes.

The university issued an email warning asking students to keep an eye on the weather and for those reliant on public transport to consider leaving early.

At 3.30pm, the university cancelled evening classes and urged students to go home early as the severe storm front ripped down power lines at the Gold Coast.

They email read: “It is unclear how the campus will be affected, so in the interests of public safety, all classes starting after 5pm have been cancelled.”

However, many did not take the warning seriously because of deceptive blue sky and gentle breeze.

Ben Meredith, of Buddina, said he wasn’t leaving early because of the storm threat.

“I’m quite sceptical about the whole thing,” he said. “My car is under cover so I’m not worried.”

One Caboolture couple decided to hit the road early after hearing the storm system was approaching their houses.

Shannon Johnston and Jamie Sukkar, both 19, were relaxing between classes when they heard about the warning.

They decided to leave the campus at around 3.30pm in the hope of making it home before the worst of the weather hit.

“We weren’t too concerned about it until we found out it was already at Caboolture,” Jamie said.

“We have to drive 40 minutes from here to there and I need to get my car undercover.”

University spokesman Terry Walsh said the last time classes were cancelled was in March 2004 when wild weather lashed the Coast.

He said staff were confident the buildings would withstand the strong winds, but had issued the warning as a precaution.

Classes have resumed again this morning.

A Lismore woman, reported driving to the Gold Coast through extremely hazardous conditions as gale force winds slammed motorists on the Pacific Highway yesterday.

Elly Bird said she slowly navigated the worst of it to arrive to her destination safely.

“I was getting buffeted off the road, and the occasional big blast of wind,” she said.

“It’s raining really heavily here and the wind is amazing!”

This surfer enjoyed the rising seas yesterday at Noosa before the full storm hit last night.