SYDNEY - Christmas night thunderstorms and strong winds cut power to 110,000 homes in eastern Australia and toppled a tree that killed one woman, officials said on Dec 26.

People lost electricity as the storms wrought “catastrophic” damage, downing power lines in Queensland’s capital Brisbane and the Gold Coast area, energy company Energex said.

“There is no easy way to say this but some customers will not have power for days – we’re looking at catastrophic and widespread damage on the scale of a cyclone,” it said in an update on social media.

“Reports of further damage are coming through every minute.”

Queensland’s ambulance service said a 59-year-old woman was struck by a falling tree on a street in the Gold Coast.

Critical care paramedic Jaye Newton, who was at the scene, said: “She unfortunately suffered a significant head injury and passed away. We were unable to revive her, which was really quite confronting.”

Another falling tree trapped a woman in her car for more than an hour, he told reporters.

“It was like a disaster zone, there were trees just all over the road,” Mr Newton said, describing how winds had uprooted trees and blown tiles off roofs.

Severe thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts, large hail and heavy rainfall were forecast for Dec 26, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

“Isolated very dangerous severe thunderstorms possible again,” it warned on social media, also issuing a major flooding alert for a river about 40km inland from the Gold Coast. AFP