22 Nov 2008

More violent storms set to hit Queensland

9:23 pm on 22 November 2008

Queensland's emergency services are gearing up for more storms across the state's south east late on Saturday.

The region has been hit by three violent storms in less than a week, causing one death and hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.

A severe weather warning has been issued with damaging winds predicted to hit areas already battered by storms on Saturday afternoon.

The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of winds of up to 100km/h that are headed for the south-east coast, the eastern Darling Downs and the Granite Belt.

Wind has already cut power to about 2,000 homes from Ipswich to Brisbane's west and down to the Gold Coast.

Bruce Grady from Emergency Management Queensland says people need to be careful.

"The message for people is if you don't have any real need to be out, stay indoors," he said.

Storm clean-ups have been stepped up across the region as residents prepare for the bad weather and the State Government has set up two evacuation centres in Brisbane.