MORE than 3000 residents in Capalaba were left in the dark after two storm cells battered the Brisbane region on Saturday afternoon.
While it took Energex workers two and a quarter hours from the 3.30pm black-out to restore power to the majority, about 100 were disconnected for more than seven hours.
It was all done in good time despite the wild weather’s magnitude, Energex spokesman Danny Donald said.
The crews deployed to fix the networks damaged in the first storm cell, stopped work to head back to the Cleveland depot for safety reasons as the second cell rolled over the bayside about 7pm, he said.
About 38,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes peppered the region between Brisbane and Logan, with more than 237,000 strikes, including cloud-to-cloud, generated in total.
“It was one of the most busiest, most active lightning and thunderstorms in a while,” Mr Donald said.
“It took a toll on the network.”
More than 50,000 people in Queensland were disconnected from the electricity grid by Saturday’s wild weather.
With further storms predicted later this week, Mr Donald said all Redland City residents should clear loose items from their yards and stay away from green pillar boxes in the event of localised flooding.
He said pillar boxes, often located in the front yards of homes and on nature strips, acted as connection points between sections of underground electricity cabling.
He also urged residents to not approach downed powerlines under any circumstances – damaged powerlines can still conduct electricity, he said.
“Stay away,” he said.
“There are no second chances.”
For more information, visit getready.qld.gov.au/natural-disasters/storms.