Yesterday Brisbane copped one of the worst storms in living memory, comparable, it has been said, to the 1985 hail storm in its destructive ferocity.  I recall the 1985 storm with great clarity.

I was working at ABC Television, in the old ABC studios at Toowong.  Ironically I was broadcasting the warning messages on air while the great storm front rolled in from the east.  It was a wall of green air that looked terrible.  And when it arrived, it was like being inside a drum as the hail hammered on the roof.

The car park was behind the building, right on the water, and my car resembled a golf ball it was so pitted with the apple sized hail stones raining down on it.  The hail looked like snow, so much of it fell.  And my home, which back then was in Bardon, was saturated throughout as I had left the windows open to keep the place cool while I was at work.

Yesterday in Brisbane was a repeat of that destruction.

I am in awe of the effort we see by emergency services personnel who risk their lives to help people.