Andrew Pender, 27, had to take shelter inside a restaurant in the South Bank area of the Queensland city as the storm hit on November 27 – but had no idea how powerful and devastating it would be.

The army was drafted in to help clear the aftermath of the storm, with the bill already in excess of $1billion.

No one was seriously hurt or killed in the ‘super-storm’– caused by two storm cells combining just south of the two-million population city – which continued to wreak havoc as it moved north.

Gusts reached speeds of almost 90mph, leaving debris strewn around the city’s streets, and golf ball-sized hailstones smashed windows on buildings and cars. Andrew, a former Lomond School pupil, told the Advertiser: “The storm was intense. Definitely the most awesome, powerful display of nature that I have ever experienced first hand.

“The venue I was in has French windows which can open the entire side of it onto the river.

“We noticed dark clouds forming just to the south of us, and despite there being no storm warnings, we decided to shut the windows just in case. Good thing we did, as literally a minute later the rain started falling.

“As customers began to make their way into the bar from the deck area, a huge ‘thunk’ came from the roof and some of the lights went dead.

“At first we thought it was the electrics blowing out, but then people started pointing at what looked like fish jumping out of the river. These fish turned out to be the start of the golf-ball-sized hail stones falling.” At the peak of the storm, Andrew couldn’t see more than a few metres in front of him as the wind whipped rain, hail, and debris into a cloud.

Although it only lasted just over an hour, it was enough to leave the city in disarray with 70,000 homes without power and many of the roads turned into ‘rivers’.

Some people were stuck for up to three hours in their cars and vans as transport ground to a halt and the railway stations flooded.

Andrew, who is working as a waiter during his time in Australia, added: “Our sous chef, Matt, got trapped in the company van.

“He said it was absolutely petrifying, as if the outside of the vehicle was getting peppered by machine gun fire, and ended up taking cover under some cardboard boxes incase the windscreen smashed. “As the hail increased in intensity, so too did the wind, whipping the falling stones more and more horizontally. This was the cause of the majority of the damage to the city, smashing building and car windows and uprooting trees as the wind speeds reached 141km/h. This was also strong enough to blow the rain water under the doors and windows.

“I’ve seen pictures of trees which have fallen into people’s homes, roofs having been blown off and cars crushed by branches.

“Scenes more reminiscent of the USA’s mid-west Tornado-belt than east coast Australia. Our house in Paddington was very lucky to have just missed the epicentre of the storm, and the most significant damage we had was a leaking skylight.” Campbell Newman, Queensland’s Premier, commissioned the Defence Force and SES volunteers from around Queensland to help with roof repairs and recovery efforts.

He said: “At this stage we have had no reports of any deaths or any serious injuries, but this has been a ferocious storm, arguably the worst since 1985 for this city.”