Flooded southeast Qld braces for storms
Robyn Wuth and Marty Silk |
Southeast Queensland is on flood watch with dangerous thunderstorms looming that could trigger “life-threatening floods” just days after the region’s worst deluge in a decade.
Large parts of the region remain underwater and residents have barely started to clean up after floods which killed nine people and damaged more than 17,000 homes and businesses.
Police are still searching for an elderly man who fell from a boat into the swollen Brisbane River near Breakfast Creek on Saturday afternoon.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says people living from Brisbane’s north to Bundaberg should collect their children from school as soon as it’s safe to do so.
On Friday state schools across the entire southeast region will only open for children of essential workers.
“These are unprecedented times,” the premier told reporters.
“It is extremely unstable weather conditions and, as a precaution, we would like our people to collect their children when they think it is safe to go out on the road and do so.”
The Bureau of Meteorology warns the line of storms will be “dangerous and potentially life-threatening” with catchments across the southeast already saturated.
Deputy Police Commissioner Shane Chelepy said Grantham residents were urged to evacuate as a precaution ahead of possible flash floods after the nearby Lockyer Valley recorded 80mm of rainfall in 24 hours.
“We’ve already had 80mm there, so we would only need one more severe storm system over that which would cause issues there, and that’s the same right across the areas that have been mentioned today,” he said.
Storms packing winds of up to 93km/h struck overnight, uprooting trees and power lines in the southeast and sparking 360 calls for help to emergency services by Thursday morning.
Six-centimetre hail pummelled Windera, north of Brisbane, while stones 5-6cm smashed into the southern town of Inglewood.
BoM forecaster Laura Boekel said parts of Brisbane recorded 48mm of rain in just 30 minutes.
She said there would be increased risks of floods and flash floods across the southeast for the next 48 hours.
“This is a very dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation for southeast Queensland,” Ms Boekel told reporters on Thursday.
The Lockyer and Bremer rivers and Laidley and Warrill creeks are likely to flood causing moderate flooding at Ipswich during the day and major flooding by Thursday night.
There’s a flood watch in place for the Brisbane, Burnett, Burrum and Cherwell, Mary, Noosa, Pine, Caboolture, Logan and Albert rivers, as well as Sunshine and Gold Coast rivers and creeks.
Ms Boekel said the main concern for Brisbane wasn’t the river, but the creeks where there’s potential for more flash flooding.
“They cannot take any more rainfall, they are what we call saturated,” she said.
Meanwhile, Gympie and Maryborough are on alert again with any intense rainfall likely to make the Mary River break its banks for the third time in three months.
The premier said with unstable weather forecast for the next 48 hours across the entire southeast, all schools will be closed for regular students on Friday.
Only individual schools that can safely open will be allowed to do so, and only for the children of essential workers.
Ms Palaszczuk also called on people who can work from home to do so on Friday.
“I’m asking people tomorrow to think about not being on the roads and staying at home, the schools will open for children of essential workers,” she said.
“I’ve lived in Brisbane essentially all my life and I haven’t seen storms and floods like this all being thrown at us at once.
“We’ll get through it together.”
AAP