Brisbane was mopping up on Thursday morning after a night of wild storms with about 250,000 lightning strikes hitting south-east Queensland, and a repeat performance expected later in the day.

Power outages affected about 20,000 homes, mostly on the Sunshine Coast.

The northern suburbs of Brisbane were also hit and storms were hanging off the coast of Brisbane this morning with continued lightning.

Storms also hit the Darling Downs region and southern Queensland.

The furious amount of lightning was the cause for the power outages and Energex is hopeful of restoring power quickly.

Severe road damage was also reported in the inner city suburbs, which is expected to cause traffic delays.

The heatwave that has hit Queensland in the past three days was expected end on Thursday, with more storms forecast and a temperature reaching 37 degrees.

“Relief will arrive in south-east Queensland on Thursday afternoon, with gusty thunderstorms and a cool change. Heat will persist elsewhere until at least this weekend,” the Bureau of Meteorology said.

“Tropical activity looks to increase during next week, helping to flush out stagnant heat.”

Temperatures in the north and west of the state were expected to top 40 degrees today.

This story first appeared in InQld and is republished here with permission