Storms

A central Queensland hospital was damaged and lost power after storms continued to pummel the state for the fifth straight day.An Emergency Management Queensland spokesman said incoming rain caused a blackout at Moura hospital after a roof was blown off.He said the roof came off an elevated walkway between buildings at the hospital. Back-up generators were used as electricians worked to restore power and emergency crews repaired the roof. Falling trees damaged two Moura homes and another at nearby Biloela. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Wide Bay and Burnett areas north of Brisbane at about 7.50pm (AEST) on Thursday. A spokesman said "very dangerous thunderstorms" were detected near Dalby, Bell, Bunya Mountains, Kingaroy and Kilcoy, west of Brisbane - an area that copped a battering on Wednesday night. Twenty-two homes in Jandowae, west of Brisbane, were damaged, with 15 partially losing their roofs and three homes completely without their roofs.A bureau spokesman said a more general severe thunderstorm warning was also current for the Central Coast and Whitsundays, Capricornia in central Queensland, Maranoa and Warrego, Darling Downs and Granite Belt, west of Brisbane, and parts of the Central Highlands and central west.He said golf ball sized hail was reported to have fallen 60km north of Alpha, in the state's central west, at 3.30pm (AEST).The wild storms have been felt all the way into the corridors of power in Queensland.Premier Anna Bligh told state parliament of the "chaos" when an official state function was affected by a lightning strike earlier this week."The first of those storms here in south-east Queensland earlier this week saw 10,000 lightning strikes across the Brisbane region in just a few hours," she said.Ms Bligh told parliament that crews had restored power to more than 160,000 homes and businesses in south-east Queensland since Sunday. "There is always a silver lining, though. We have had some rain, which is great to see," Ms Bligh said. "In the last 24 hours we have seen 19mm into the Wivenhoe Dam and 218mm into North Pine (dam)."