A wild weather event brought more than 200,000 lightning strikes across SEQ and causing a house fire on Daniel Court in Scarborough, as hundreds of households were left without power in the aftermath of the severe thunderstorms.
On the night of Wednesday 4 December 2022 at about 9 pm, firefighters and Energex crews were sent to Danei Court where a house fire occurred after being hit by lightning. Firefighters had to work on extinguishing the fire, which was not visible from the outside, by entering from the roof.
Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics also rushed to the scene to attend to a woman, presumed to be in her 50s who sustained minor injuries. She was transported to Redcliffe Hospital in stable condition.
One neighbour was reportedly able to record a lightning bolt striking in the direction of Daniel Court but wasn’t sure if it was the one that caused the house fire. Following the lightning strike, the resident said that all of North Redcliffe’s electrical grid shut down.
Emergency services were also called at about 10 pm to rescue a woman who was trapped in her vehicle that was caught in floodwaters in Kedron. A passing car reportedly called triple zero after seeing the woman trapped in her vehicle.
The driver was uninjured and was rescued within ten minutes of the fire crews’ arrival.
The severe thunderstorm brought winds of over 32k m per hour, and rainfall of up to 90mm across South East Queensland. There were also more than 200,000 lightning strikes recorded that night and more than 2,500 power outages as of 5 am the next day. In all, more than 8,000 outages were recorded, impacting about 16,000 homes.
Published 7-January-2023