Australian utility Energex has restored power to more than 43,000 homes and businesses that lost electricity as a series of storms swept across southeast Queensland.

In the majority of cases, power was restored by Energex within two hours despite crews having to work in difficult conditions. Energex has managed to restore power to more than 40,000 customers, while there were 2,300 homes and businesses without power, mostly in Brisbane’s western suburbs, the Ipswich area and northern Gold Coast. The worst hit areas were the Beaudesert Shire and northern Gold Coast.

More than 16,000 lightning strikes were recorded by the Global Position and Tracking Systems (GPATS) as the storms passed over the region, including some strikes hitting Energex infrastructure.