Efforts to restore normalcy are underway after a series of powerful storms wreaked havoc across regions of Queensland, leaving a trail of destruction that included tearing the roof off a wedding venue and disrupting a school fete.

The southeast is on high alert tonight, with authorities warning that “very dangerous thunderstorms” could unleash giant hailstones and destructive winds, potentially causing further damage.

Hailstones as large as seven to eight centimeters in diameter were reported just after 5 p.m. today, west of Brisbane. This comes less than a day after severe weather marred a couple’s wedding day.

A fierce storm, characterized by hail, strong winds, lightning, and torrential rain, overshadowed what was meant to be a joyous occasion for a couple on Saturday night.

Maddison Hogarth, a guest at the wedding, described the situation as escalating “from zero to 100 really, really quickly.”

A total of 200 nervous guests took shelter from what they say felt like a tornado inside a shed in Camboon in the shire of Banana, inland from Bundaberg.

“There was a lot of fear, a lot of crying, a lot of screaming,” Hogarth said.

But the group soon realised it wouldn’t hold.

“One of my girlfriends, she had her little baby with her, she made the call to bunker under a steel table because she was so scared,” an emotional Hogarth said.

“We had people in cold rooms, we had to put kids in cold rooms. I’ve got goosebumps, it was pretty hard.”

The building was flattened with people still inside but somehow nobody was seriously injured.

“It was insane, very, very chaotic and very scary,” she said

Isabelle Drake barely escaped the line of fire at Esk State School’s fair.

Her partner Caleb Ballard’s injuries are too graphic to show, but he’s smiling through the pain. 

“I have quite a few welts and bruises along my back and my right hand is pretty swollen.” he said.

Nine people were treated for injuries despite severe storm warnings issued days in advance.

Nearby homes were also in the firing line.

“It literally felt like a tornado and I haven’t been in a tornado, but the noise and the destruction was terrible,” Anne Petersen said.

Storms continue across Queensland

More massive hail, this time up to eight centimetres, hit parts of the state this afternoon.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the monster hail hit in the rural areas of Yarraman and Googa Creek, near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.

As night fell, the bureau warned a “very dangerous thunderstorm” was west of the Sunshine coast and surging north from Blackbutt towards Nanango.

It was “likely to produce large, possibly giant hailstones, damaging, locally destructive winds and heavy, locally intense rainfall that may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding”.

Other storms were heading east near Ipswich and in the Moreton Bay region, with Caboolture and Logan both in the firing line.

Severe thunderstorms were possible across south-east Queensland, rolling as far as north-east NSW.

A severe thunderstorm warning issued for parts of the Central Highlands and Coalfields was cancelled.

The storms weren’t expected to ease until Tuesday.