Woman dies after being crushed by tree in wild Australian storm

A woman has died after being crushed by a tree as a violent storm cell swept through southeast Queensland.

The “extremely localized” storm system battered parts of the state on Friday evening, bringing gusty winds, heavy rain and even hail.

Queensland Ambulance confirmed the storm caused a tree to fall on the 62-year-old woman, who was at a property in Lockyer Waters in the Lockyer Valley, 62 miles west of Brisbane, at about 5:45 p.m.

First responders worked to save the woman for more than an hour but she was pronounced dead at the scene just before 7 p.m., a spokesperson said.

Storms in the area downed powerlines, leaving 2,300 Lockyer Valley residents without power. Traffic crashes were also reported, as well as wild winds, hail and isolated heavy falls.

Locals took to social media to share pictures of hail blanketing their properties, with one Facebook user calling the scene a springtime “winter wonderland”.

The photos showed a dense blanket of hail that covered the ground almost completely, as trees tilted in the wind.

BOM spokeswoman Kimba Wond said Gatton clocked winds of 54 mph during the storm, while Laidley was drenched by almost an inch of rain in just 10 minutes.

She said the system had exceeded meteorologists’ expectations.

Severe thunderstorm warnings for heavy rainfall, damaging wind gusts and large hail were issued for people in the Wide Bay and Burnett, Darling Downs and Granite Belt and Southeast Coast forecast districts, and the Somerset, South Burnett, Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley and Moreton Bay council areas.

Both warnings were canceled at about 6:30 p.m.