Giant hail, thunderstorms forecast for New Year’s Eve

Maeve Bannister and Rachael Ward | December 31, 2023

Emergency crews will be on standby on New Year’s Eve with heavy rain, thunderstorms and giant hail forecast for parts of northern NSW and Queensland. 

A wild weather system is forecast to stretch more than 1000km from Port Macquarie in NSW to Rockhampton in Queensland. 

The focus on Sunday will be on the area from Charters Towers to Emerald in northern Queensland. 

Weather bureau senior meteorologist Jonathan How urged residents to stay on top of flood warnings. 

“At this stage, we’re not expecting widespread flooding but areas of heavy rain with thunderstorms could produce flash flooding as well as rapid rises in creeks, rivers and storm drains,” he said.

Strong wind warnings have been issued for the Bryon Coast in NSW and several coastal areas in Western Australia including eastern and western Pilbra, Perth, Bunbury, Leeuwin, Esperance and Eucla.

On Saturday, wind gusts reached 93km/h at Gympie, while 64mm of rain fell at Cedar Pocket Dam in Queensland. 

The Sunshine Coast was also hammered by rain, with Beerburrum recording 110mm in two hours and Landsborough copping 67mm in 30 minutes. 

About 28,000 people were still waiting for power to be reconnected, predominantly in the hardest hit areas of the Gold Coast, Scenic Rim and Logan, after storms battered the region late on Christmas Day. 

Up to 70 defence force veterans and retired emergency service workers will assist the storm cleanup in southeast Queensland, Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt revealed on Sunday.

They will be deployed to the worst affected areas including northern Gold Coast, Tamborine Mountain and Jimboomba to remove fallen trees, clear debris, stabilise buildings and improve access to homes.

Senator Watt said the Disaster Relief Australia volunteers bring significant experience to the recovery operation.

“They will provide great value in assisting the Queensland Government to cleanup after such damaging storms and hopefully get things back to normal as quickly as possible,” he said.

Severe weather between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day resulted in 10 fatalities in Queensland and Victoria, among them a nine-year-old girl lost in a stormwater drain. 

NSW State Emergency Service Crews were kept busy, responding to 473 calls for help and conducting six flood rescues across the Christmas weekend.