Residents of Brisbane's hardest-hit suburb have described storms that swept across Queensland's south-east as more terrifying than a cyclone. 
The storms brought destructive winds, large hail and torrential rain, causing flash flooding. (ABC TV News)
Weemala Street in The Gap on Brisbane's north is almost unrecognisable this morning.
Homes are without roofs, a hot water service sits in the street, corrugated iron is wrapped around power lines and countless trees are down.
Seventy-thousand homes are still without power, as the storms cut a path of destruction through Toowoomba, the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.
Some of the worst hit areas were Mount Tamborine and the Brisbane suburbs of The Gap, Arana Hills and Albany Creek.
The storms brought destructive winds, large hail and torrential rain, causing flash flooding.
At the height of the storm, power was cut to almost 230,000 homes and businesses or 20 per cent of south-east Queensland.
Brisbane resident Davina Thomas says her street looks like a bomb has gone off.
"It looks like there's been a bomb, a great big bomb go off in all the street - it's just terrible," she said.
"My daughter's had her roof blown off - it's in the pool."
Resident Amberlyn Dargrush was inside her home at The Gap when the roof lifted off and landed in her pool.
"It was just incredibly terrifying - I was scared for my life, my children thought they were going to die," she said.
The family had just completed renovations on their home.
Brisbane's Lord Mayor Campbell Newman is at The Gap in the city's north-west and says it looks like the aftermath of a cyclone.
"The damage is absolutely extraordinary - I've not seen anything like it before," he said.
Power out
Energex spokesman Mike Swanston says some customers might not have power until early tonight.
"We had major damage on our main transmission systems from Gympie to Redland Bay last night - it was just unbelievable," he said.
"I've been in network operations for the best part of 27 years and this is certainly one that's put a notch on the wall."
Yesterday at the height of the storm, a 20-year-old man was killed when he was sucked down a drain at Chermside on Brisbane's northside.
Residents are pleading for help from the State Emergency Service (SES) to put tarps on the remains of their homes.
Queensland Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts is urging residents to be patient.
"It's been a very busy night also for Energex workers with power lines down," he said.
"We're just asking people to take a little bit of care this morning, but council have been out very early to try to help clear debris and we'll have a lot of SES workers from both Brisbane and surrounding regions helping throughout the day."
The State Emergency Service has received about 700 calls for help.
Mr Roberts says more calls are expected as residents assess the damage in the daylight.
"There's a lot of people out and about at the moment and I urge motorists to take care, there'll be a lot of streets that might be blocked," he said.
"We just need people to be cautious and to be patient because eventually we'll get around and we'll clean up this mess so we can get on with our lives."
Police are directing traffic around blocked roads and are expecting a slow commute to work.
