Heavy storms lashed southeast Queensland last night with one house struck by a powerful bolt of lightning.
The house in Ashmore suffered severe damage and three people inside were lucky to escape uninjured.
The strike caved in most of the roof of the house, firefighter Christopher Sharpe told the Nine Network.
The three residents were standing outside the home trapped by broken glass when emergency workers arrived, he said.
"It [the lightning strike] had caused most of the interior ceilings to collapse....it had blown the powerbox off the side of the house."
Authorities were working late into last night to fix power outages and damage to homes caused by the storms.
Several severe thunderstorms swept across the region on Thursday afternoon and evening, battering some areas with huge hailstones.
Hail seven centimetres in diameter was reported northeast of Warwick while golf ball-sized chunks were reported at Allora.
Almost 5,000 customers were without power in the Lockyer Valley, with another 2,281 homes out in the Fassifern Valley, according to Energex.
More than 600 homes in Ipswich and its surrounds were blacked out, as well as 71 homes in Brisbane's north.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Community Safety said SES offices at Warwick and Toowoomba had been activated to respond to 11 calls for help.
Most were for storm damage to homes - including leaky roofs - but there was no significant damage, she said.
The thunderstorms were weakening as they moved towards the coast and many more calls for help were unlikely, she said.
However, a Bureau of Meteorology severe thunderstorm warning said damaging winds, very heavy rainfall, flash flooding and hail were possible over Brisbane, Ipswich, Moreton Bay and islands, Kingaroy, Beenleigh and Caboolture in the hours after 7pm (AEST).
There was a separate warning in place for Ipswich and the area northeast of Kingaroy, the D'Aguilar Ranges, Murgon and Cherbourg.
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