Storm flips planes and pounds Australian city of Brisbane with hail

Planes were flipped and roofs ripped off when hail and powerful winds tore through Australia's east coast, leaving an A$100 million (HK$664 million) damage bill as the army helped clean up yesterday.

The storm, which officials said was one of the worst seen in the country and the strongest to hit the city of Brisbane in three decades, rained hailstones the size of tennis balls on cars and buildings late on Thursday, flooding streets, shattering skyscraper windows and injuring 39 people.

Gusts of up to 140km/h uprooted trees and brought down power lines. In one dramatic scene, at least four light planes were flipped over at Archerfield Airport, 11km from Brisbane's central business district.

"It looks like the apocalypse," one resident of an apartment building that had its metal roof wrenched off by the storm and blown more than 100 metres said.

Queensland state Premier Campbell Newman said it was the "biggest storm that has hit Brisbane since 1985" but was grateful none of those injured were seriously hurt.

The storm started as an ordinary cell south of Brisbane before encountering moist sea air that helped it develop into a supercell, the Bureau of Meteorology's Pradeep Singh said.