Storm clean-up begins in southeast Qld

Residents have started picking up the pieces after a severe thunderstorm dumped golf-ball sized hail in southeast Queensland, although 900 homes are still without power.

Chinchilla residents reported ankle-deep hail and rivers of ice in their backyards and streets during a freak `supercell' storm on Wednesday afternoon.

Six patients were evacuated from Chinchilla Hospital as a precaution after rooms were inundated with water from broken windows.

Around 3300 homes in Chinchilla and surrounding areas lost power for about seven hours.

Electricity has returned to the majority of the township, although 100 homes remain with power, mostly in outlying areas.

"We should get those back online today," Ergon Energy spokesman Rod Rehbein said.

Fire and emergency services received roughly 130 calls for help, with crews from Chinchilla, Toowoomba and Oakey set to respond to a remaining 90 calls on Thursday.

Another 800 homes are still without power near Childers, 300km northeast of Chinchilla, where the storm hit afterwards.

"Most of the damage in Chinchilla was due to lightning but a lot more trees came down there and that's proving to be more of a challenge," Mr Rehbein said.

The total damaged bill in Chinchilla is not yet known, although some media reports suggest it could run into the millions.

RACQ has received 74 insurance claims, the majority for hail damaged cars.

"It's very early days and we're expecting to see that increase," RACQ spokesman Mike Sopinski said.