31 Jan 2015

Lightning strikes baby, toddler and parents

9:23 pm on 31 January 2015

A baby aged 12 weeks, a boy aged 18 months and their parents have been struck by lightning at a polling station on the Gold Coast.

It is believed the four were struck at Worongary State School on Delta Cove Drive just before 4pm (local time) and rushed to hospital.

Authorities said the mother and children were taken to hospital while paramedics tried to resuscitate the father.

The mother and her two children were taken to hospital in one ambulance and paramedics are trying to resuscitate the father, emergency workers said.

The school was being used as a polling booth for the state election.

It sits in the seat of Gaven.

Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman Michael Augustus said the family was sheltering from an electrical storm at the school when they were hit lightning.

"It appears there was a family of four that was sheltering under and the father, he has taken a direct strike by lightning it has then travelled into an 18-month old male child," Mr Augustus said.

"There was also an adult lady the mother who also had with her a 12-week-old infant and unfortunately they all suffered some form of injury."

In the Bureau of Meteorology's (BoM) latest weather warning for south-east Queensland, severe thunderstorms were detected on weather radar near Camp Hill and Slacks Creek about 5.25pm.

These thunderstorms were moving towards the northeast.

They were forecast to affect Cleveland and southern waters of Moreton Bay by 5:55pm and Amity Point and Mud Island by 6:25 pm.

Damaging winds and large hailstones were likely.

The earlier weather warning was for areas including the Gold Coast, Logan City, Sunnybank Hills, Archerfield, Beenleigh and Wynnum.

Other severe thunderstorms were located near South Stradbroke Island and Jacobs Well.

Senior Forecaster Jonte Hall said the Wide Bay, Burnett, Darling Downs and Granite Belt districts were also in the firing line.

"We have got some pretty lively weather in the far southeast of the state, in particular a line of severe storms heading toward the Gold Coast right now it will be moving offshore in the next hour or two," she said.

"Not too much activity in behind that and that should just leave us with one or two showers and storms further north and west across the central highlands part of the state."

Energex have reported more than 18,000 properties without electricity in southeast Queensland.

The worst-hit areas are Brisbane where 11,000 homes and businesses were affected by blackouts and the Gold Coast 7,000.

Energex also said there have been around 1,500 lightning strikes across the network in the hour to 6pm.

-ABC