Thousands left without power across Queensland after intense thunderstorms

Southeast Queensland is mopping up after being battered by a line of intense thunderstorms that cut power to more than 27,000 homes and businesses.

The storms hit the Brisbane area about 6pm yesterday, bringing 5500 lightning strikes and wind gusts of up to 100km/h.

"It's what we call a squall line - a line of thunderstorms that moves in from the west, and it's a narrow band of thunderstorms," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Bryan Rolstone said.

The storms dumped 10-20mms of rain with isolated pockets of heavier falls of up to 40mm.

The worst hit areas were Ipswich City, Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley, parts of Logan, Brisbane, Samford Valley and Redland City.

SES crews received 54 calls for assistance from Warwick to the Gold Coast as a result of storm damage.

This morning, Energex crews were still working to restore power to more than 1000 properties after the storm activity knocked down 90 power lines.

"Most of the power lines were brought down by flying tree branches or debris," Energex spokesman Graham Metcalf said.

Crews had been working their way through 250 separate locations, he said.

While Brisbane is expecting a top of 34 degrees today, the weather bureau is not expecting the heat to help rebuild storm activity in the evening.

"It's clearing, so it'll be dryer today, all of the weather's been pushed north and east," Mr Rolstone said.