Grapefruit-sized hail hits Australia's east coast

Canberra: Record-sized hailstones fell across Australia's east coast this week, with ice pellets larger than grapefruits lashing residents in parts of Queensland, the country's metereology bureau said on Wednesday.

A thunderstorm struck the Yalboroo area north of Mackay, 954 km (593 miles) north of Brisbane on Monday, bringing record-sized hailstones measuring 16 cm (6.3 inches) in diameter, the Bureau of Metereology (BOM) said.

Video obtained by Reuters also showed vehicles and buildings at an industrial site in the Gold Coast being pelted by hail on Monday, with a man picking up one hailstone the size of a golf ball and showing it to the camera.