A woman has been killed by a falling tree as Queenslanders brace for more severe weather on Boxing Day with thunderstorms and rain forecast for large parts of the state.
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The 59-year-old sustained severe head injuries after her car was hit by a tree at Helensvale on the Gold Coast.
She died at the scene.
"We were unable to revive her which was really quite confronting and quite sad," paramedic Jaye Newton said.
Queensland Ambulance Service Assistant Commissioner Andrew Hebbron warned people to avoid travelling on the roads during severe weather.
"An absolutely tragic set of circumstances and a good reminder for the moment and especially today that if you don't need to be on the roads today we encourage you not to be," he said.
In Jimboomba, south of Brisbane, Betty and David Hall's ceiling collapsed on them.
"It was scary, I was panicking," Betty Hall said.
"We lost power as well."
⚠️⛈️Severe thunderstorm — Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) #warning issued for damaging wind gusts, large hail, and heavy rainfall in southern and central #Qld, may affect Maroochydore, Gympie, Bundaberg, K'gari, Yeppoon, and Caboolture. Details and updates: https://t.co/FBmpsInT9o pic.twitter.com/rI4tmvfiATDecember 26, 2023
More than 120,000 people are still without power across the south-east of the state.
82,000 of those homes without power are on the Gold Coast, there's also 700 power lines down in the area.
"There'll be a couple of days of work there to rectify that," Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said.
"We've got powerlines down, even at our theme parks, so we're prioritising that as well."
Premier Steven Miles said the damage from the storm was currently being assessed.
"This is the first time we've seen a storm so intense in the southeast that its taken down concrete power poles," he said.
Paramedics workloads "surged significantly" as storms hit the Gold Coast on Monday night. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS)
Queensland Ambulance Service said paramedics' workloads "surged significantly" as storms hit the Gold Coast on Monday night.
"We saw everything from people being injured in their homes from damage that was incurred by the storms to some less serious electrocutions," Mr Hebbron said.
A man in his 70s was injured by a tree branch that fell onto a tent in Helensvale. He is in a stable condition in hospital with pelvic and back injuries.
A collapsed roof put a man in his 90s in hospital with a head injury, where he remains in a stable condition.
Fallen power lines, felled trees smashing cars and homes and several drivers crashing into poles kept ambulance crews busy on Christmas Day.
It took paramedics an hour to wrench one person from a car that was hit by a large tree in the Hinterland district.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting more thunderstorms for Tuesday afternoon and evening. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS)
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting more thunderstorms in the state's east and north for Tuesday afternoon and evening.
"It's likely to be another stormy one, with severe thunderstorms possible," meteorologist Angus Hines said.
"More damaging winds, large to to giant hail and areas of heavy rain are all a possibility."
Queenslanders have been warned to secure property and stay indoors.
"We're getting used to some storms during this summer period," Mr Hebbron said.
"Make sure you tidy up your homes and if you're in an apartment on the Gold Coast keep the doors closed and your balconies clear if you can from those high winds."
Dreamworld and other Gold Coast theme parks have closed on Boxing Day due to the storms.
More damaging winds, large hail and areas of heavy rain remain possible, the weather bureau says. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS)
In the far north, the clean-up and repairs following ex-tropical cyclone Jasper and severe flooding continue.
More than 4200 property damage assessments have been completed since the system delivered heavy rain and damaging winds.
Twelve homes have been confirmed destroyed, 126 properties are severely damaged and 554 moderately so.
Close to 9000 residents have received financial assistance payments.
Flood warnings remain in place for the Barcoo, Paroo River and Burnett rivers, with a flood watch for parts of the Cape York Peninsula.
Australian Associated Press