Thousands lose power, hundreds call for help after severe storm lashes Canberra

ACT emergency services had received 208 calls for assistance overnight, most for trees down and leaking roofs. By midnight, they had completed 134 jobs.

Gungahlin had borne the brunt of the storm damage, an ESA spokesperson said.

Around 17 crews, including State Emergency Service, Rural Fire Service and ACT Fire and Rescue, were responding to the calls on Tuesday night with six crews expected to continue the clean up on Wednesday.

It was the second severe storm in a fortnight, after a brief but fierce storm tore through Canberra on Friday, December 8. City authorities, who took over recovery efforts, were still cleaning up the damage from that storm when Tuesday's hit.

An ESA spokesperson said that while Tuesday's storm led to a significant number of requests for help, it was much smaller than the December 8 one.

They said the damage from Tuesday's storm appeared to be concentrated in a different area and was not expected to impact the ongoing recovery work from earlier this month.

"We may see more requests for assistance ... given the rain has continued through the night, that may mean that some people are going to wake up this morning and find that they need some assistance," the spokesperson told The Canberra Times.

Evo energy reports all outages have been restored, but at one point about 5000 homes had lost power. They had affected parts of Ainslie, Dickson, Downer, Watson, Lyneham, Gungahlin, Hackett, Majura, Sutton, Campbell, Curtin, Holder, Monash and O'Connor.

The bureau issued a warning about 3pm for damaging winds, large hailstones, and heavy rainfall. An hour later, about 4.20pm, it said the storms had temporarily eased, but that there was a chance they could reform.

"The situation is being closely monitored and further detailed warnings will be issued as necessary," it said.

Residents in north Canberra have reported seeing hailstones. People have been advised to move their cars undercover and away from trees.

The bureau's warning at 3.40pm said "severe thunderstorms [that were] likely to produce damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding were detected near Gungahlin, Weston Creek, Woden Valley and Wee Jasper".

"These thunderstorms are moving towards the southeast. They are forecast to affect Belconnen, Canberra Civic, Tuggeranong and South Canberra by 4.05 pm and Queanbeyan and Canberra Airport by 4.35pm.

"Canberra Airport recorded a wind gust of 87kmh. Gungahlin recorded hail around 2-3cm."

Rain continued sporadically through the night, and Canberra had recorded about 12.2mm as of 6am. More rain is expected through Wednesday, and the bureau says there is a chance of another thunderstorm during the morning or afternoon.

Rain is expected to east on Thursday and Friday, before returning on the weekend and Christmas Day.

The bureau has updated its Christmas forecast, predicting increasing showers with an 80 per cent chance of rain and up to 7mm tipped.

It said there was a high chance of showers, most likely in the afternoon and evening and the chance of a thunderstorm in Canberra.

If you need help during a storm or flood, call the ACT State Emergency Service on 132 500.

To report low or fallen powerlines people are urged to call Evoenergy on 13 10 93 and told to stay well away from them.

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