Cyclone-Like Storms Hit Australia
Date: 18-Nov-08
Country: AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY - Cyclone-like storms ripped across the southeast corner of Australia's tropical state Queensland, killing one man, destroying houses and leaving more than 230,000 homes and businesses without power, authorities said on Monday.
The storms cut a path of destruction on Sunday night from the state capital Brisbane to the tourist havens of the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
"It looks like there's been a bomb, a great big bomb go off in all the street -- it's just terrible," Brisbane resident Davina Thomas told local radio on Monday.
"My daughter's had her roof blown off -- it's in the pool."
The storms carried destructive winds, large hail and torrential rain and caused flash flooding. A 20-year-old man was killed when he was sucked down a drain in Brisbane.
Seventy thousand homes in the area devastated by the storms are still without power.
(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Valerie Lee)