City disaster zone after storm

Source: Agencies  |   2008-11-18  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

VIOLENT storms that tore across Australia's east coast swept one man down a storm drain to his death, blew roofs off houses and cut power to thousands of buildings.

Yesterday, more than 58,000 customers in Queensland state were still without electricity after Sunday's storms, said energy suppliers Energex.

The city of Brisbane was declared a natural disaster area and army personnel were sent to help clear up the damage.

Large hailstones and torrential rains caused flash floods and cut power to more than 230,000 homes and businesses along a 180-kilometer stretch of southeast Queensland.

"It looks like there's been a bomb, a great big bomb gone off in all the streets. It's just terrible," Brisbane city resident Davina Thomas told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio yesterday.

"My daughter's had her roof blown off. It's in the pool."

Between 5 and 7 centimeters of rain soaked the region, with winds gusting at up to 130 kilometers per hour, the Bureau of Meteorology reported.

"The only thing that has been anything like it is Cyclone Larry," said Queensland state premier Anna Bligh, referring to the category-5 storm that battered Queensland with 290k/h winds two years ago, devastating farming towns and flattening banana and sugar cane plantations.

A 20-year-old man and his 23-year-old friend who had climbed into a storm drain in Brisbane to photograph the storm on Sunday were sucked downwards when the water suddenly rose.

Rescuers were able to yank the older man to safety, but the 20-year-old disappeared in the raging waters. His dead body was found hours later, Queensland police spokesman Ben Tracey said. No other deaths from the storm had been reported by yesterday, Tracey said.

The state emergency services department reported it received more than 15,000 calls between Sunday evening and early yesterday morning, mainly from people whose roofs were damaged by downed trees or strong winds.