A child struck by lightning during a violent storm sweeping across southeast Queensland is fighting for life in hospital.
The ten-year-old girl was struck during the storm at a private property on Clarkes Road in Beerwah, on the Sunshine Coast, at about 2.30pm on Saturday.
Critical care paramedics rushed her to the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in a critical condition where she remains.
It comes as record-breaking damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain continue to wreak havoc across Queensland’s southeast.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued several severe weather warnings since the storms began moving over the region on Friday.
A child is in critical condition after being struck by lightning amid severe storms in southeast Queensland (pictured, a forecast of storms for Saturday)
An alert at 3.20pm on Saturday warned Ipswich, Logan, Scenic Rim, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Brisbane City, Moreton Bay and Gympie council areas could see severe thunderstorms, damaging wind, hail, heavy rain and flash flooding.
Hail stones four centimetres large fell over Beaudesert, to the west of the Gold Coast, at about 4pm.
It follows freak storms on Friday night which caused widespread damage across the region.
BOM senior meteorologist Shane Kennedy said winds recorded in Archerfield, south Brisbane, were the strongest recorded in more than 75 years.
‘169km/h in Archerfield was a record from 143km/h back in 1946,’ he said.
‘That’s the kind of thing we only see every few years or so.’
The storms on Friday claimed the life of a 30-year-old man who was discovered unconscious near fallen powerlines in Murrarie.
He was found by emergency services at about 5pm following calls from the public and was declared dead at the scene.
SES volunteers have responded to upwards of 180 distress calls since Friday afternoon and more than 9,500 properties have lost power.
Hail measuring four-centimetres large was seen in Beaudesert (above) on Saturday afternoon ahead of more storms
‘Energex received over 250 reports of powerlines down through those storms yesterday and most of that was caused by things like trees, roofing iron, other debris being blown or falling onto those power lines,’ Rob Stork from Energex told the ABC.
‘So it has really caused some extensive damage, which is going to take some time to repair.
‘Our crews have been hard at it overnight, and certainly made some good gains, but [there’s] a lot more work to be done today.’