A woman was killed and more than 100,000 homes lost power in northern Australia due to a result of severe thunderstorms that struck the area.
The Queensland Ambulance Service reported today that a 59-year-old woman died as a tree fell on her on a Gold Coast street.
Energy company "Energex" said that the storm caused "catastrophic" damage, downing power lines in Queensland's capital Brisbane and the Gold Coast area, located 80 km to the south. Additionally, the storm put more than 800 power lines out of service, leading to a power outage to 120,000 homes.
The Bureau of Meteorology said that severe thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts, large hail and heavy rainfall were forecast for later on Tuesday, warning of the risk of flooding of a river located near the Gold Coast.
After months of devastating forest fires that destroyed millions of hectares of land, Australia witnessed recently severe weather that led to heavy rains and a heat wave, while some areas of the eastern coastal state of New South Wales, where about a third of the population lives, also witnessed the heaviest rain in nearly 20 years, with warnings of flash floods.
