The 30-year-old man died on Murarrie Rd in Brisbane’s northeast just after 5pm after he sustained a shock from a fallen power line.

Paramedics raced to the scene at 5.05pm and found the man suffering critical injuries. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

Local controller for the Brisbane City SES unit, Lowry Boyd, said the man was driving along a road when he stopped to clear branches from the street.

“There were tree branches blocking the road,” he said.

“As I understand it, he stopped his car to remove the tree branches to continue driving and in the process of clearing the tree branches, he has either touched or stood on some downed electrical wires, that were potentially hidden in the tree branches, and sadly he was electrocuted.”

Mr Boyd said it was common for wires to be hidden in branches during wild weather events.

He said SES volunteers set up tape and barriers around fallen wires and called Energex to remove them from the scene.

A photo from the scene taken by a witness shows an extensive emergency response involving Queensland Police, ambulance and fire crews.

It is understood the incident happened near the Murarrie train station on Murarrie Rd, in eastern Brisbane.

Police are investigating the incident and will prepare a report for the coroner.

“This is an emerging situation and investigations are ongoing,” the police said on Friday night.

A severe thunderstorm smashed Brisbane and the greater Southeast region across the afternoon and evening, with destructive winds of up to 200km/hr.

The city was battered by approximately 190,000 lightning strikes, as well as large hailstones and heavy rainfall.

The fallen power line in Murarrie knocked out power for some residents on Friday evening.

“There are Energex trucks working on the poles next to the horse paddocks further up Murarrie Road,” Samantha Newcombe said in a Murarrie community group on Facebook.

Mr Boyd said some houses had their roofs blown “completely off” by the storm and SES volunteers would continue with clean-up work across Saturday.

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said there had been 250 calls for help to the State Emergency Service from 2pm on Friday to 5am on Saturday morning, with 180 of them in metropolitan Brisbane.

Originally published as Man dies after being electrocuted by fallen power lines in powerful Brisbane thunderstorm