UPDATE: Tuesday, December 30: An exclusion zone in Southport has finally been lifted days after a wild storm swept through the suburb.
The microburst hit around 3pm on Christmas Day, with destructive winds smashing the Broadwater Tourist Park and damaging a crane on a neighbouring construction site.
Thankfully no one was injured, but the park had to be evacuated for several days while emergency crews worked to make the area safe.
The emergency declaration was eventually lifted around 4pm on December 30.
“The majority of the Broadwater Tourist Park is now accessible to the public, however access restrictions to the impacted Marine Parade building are anticipated to remain until midday tomorrow,” Queensland Police said.
“Police would like to thank the community for their assistance”.
UPDATE: Friday, December 26 @ 9.30am | An exclusion zone remains in place in Southport after a fierce storm swept throughthe suburb on Christmas Day.
The microburst hit around 3pm on Thursday with winds in excess of 80 km/h.
The storm smashed the Broadwater Tourist Park and damaged a crane on a neighbouring construction site.
The tourist park was full of holidaying families, with most of the 230 sites sustaining some kind of damage.
Thankfully, no one was injured, but the park had to be evacuated, with tourists forced to spend the night elsewhere.
Emergency accommodation was provided for 26 adults and six children, while another 62 made their own arrangements.
Some holidaymakers have been allowed to return today, however, many more have not been able to.
Work is now underway to remove the collapsed crane from the neighbouring construction site.
Two other cranes will have to be brought in for the operation.
The exclusion zone encompasses the area from the Gold Coast Highway, North St, Loders CReek and to the Broadwater.
Members of the public are advised to avoid the area.
Meantime, Energex has managed to restore power to hundreds of homes across Southport that were impacted by the storm.
As at 9.30am, 225 properties were still offline, along with another 61 in Benowa.
EARLIER: Thursday, December 25 @ 3.30pm | A fierce storm has swept across parts of the Gold Coast, interrupting Christmas Day celebrations and knocking out power to hundreds of homes.
The severe cell moved in from the southwest, bringing very strong winds, heavy rain and hail in some areas.
A wind gust of 83 km/h was recorded at the Seaway at 3.19pm at the height of the storm.
Almost 2,000 homes have lost power across parts of the city.
Southport is the worst-affected suburb with 1,818 properties without power as at 3.30pm.
Another 114 homes are offline in Ashmore.
The storms came after a scorching hot Christmas Day with temps hitting 34.9 degrees at the Seaway, 33.7 degrees in Canungra and 30.7 degrees in Coolangatta.
A severe storm warning remains in place for the Gold Coast at 3.30pm, but the BOM says the immediate threat of more severe storms has eased.
However, it warns the redevelopment of storms remains possible and it is monitoring the situation closely.
More to come.
