Hiding Mt Tamborine couple listen to home being ripped up in storm
As terrifying winds and rain hammered their Mount Tamborine home, lifting off their roof and sending shards of smashed glass spearing into walls, it felt like armageddon for Tania and Phil King.
The Queensland couple have lived in the picturesque hinterland to the south of Brisbane for 30 years, but they have never experienced a storm like the one that violently shredded their home this week.
"It just sounded like the whole house had gone," Mrs King said, describing unseen carnage the couple were hearing as they huddled behind a cupboard on the ground floor of their home, hiding from rain, wind and deadly flying glass.
READ MORE: Thousands uncertain when power will be restored in south-east Queensland
The King's home suffered huge damage 9News
"We could hear it coming, or something coming. We had just enough time to get downstairs (and) hide behind a cupboard that we had out from the wall, while we were renovating," she said.
"And all you could hear after that was shard after shard of glass breaking. We lost the roof, we have lost everything."
When the wind stopped, they ventured upstairs and saw all the windows had smashed and a large chunk of sharp glass stabbed into a wood wall.
"We didn't know what we had left when we walked upstairs. We thought there would be nothing left."
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A piece of flying glass speared into a wall 9News
Tania King said 'It just sounded like the whole house had gone.' 9News
Mount Tamborine was one of the worst-hit areas as storms and tornado-like winds whipped across south-east Queensland, triggering flash flooding and damaging homes, roads and infrastructure.
More than 8000 homes remain without power, and while it is hoped they will be connected by the weekend, that outcome is far from certain.
Mr King said the community had banded together in the aftermath of the storms.
"We went house-by-house, trying to make sure everybody was okay," he said.
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The King's roof was ripped off in the storm. 9News
They found an elderly neighbour "trapped inside her house," he said.
"We had to break in to get her out of the house. Then we brought her down here for the night and tried to make her as comfortable as we could."
READ MORE: Christmas tornado rips through Queensland communities
Fifty ADF personnel have been deployed to help clear debris.
More than 1000 Energex crew are trying to rebuild destroyed power infrastructure.
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