Brisbane weather: Severe storm warning for Lockyer Valley

SOUTHEAST Queensland remains on storm watch, as it is revealed a critical weather radar will remain offline till mid-month.

• Two cyclones possible in state’s far north

THE threat of severe storm activity west of Brisbane has passed, but the weather bureau is continuing to monitor the situation.

A more general severe thunderstorm warning remains current for parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett, Darling Downs and Granite Belt and southeast coast districts.

Earlier, Flagstone Creek and Junction View in the Lockyer Valley received 58mm rain in and hour and 30mm in 30 minutes respectively.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services advises that people should:

* Never drive, walk or ride through flood waters. If it’s flooded, forget it

* Seek shelter, preferably indoors and never under trees

* Avoid using the telephone during a thunderstorm

* Beware of fallen trees and powerlines

* For emergency assistance contact the SES on 132 500

The warning came as it was revealed the German manufacturer of the Mt Stapylton rain radar was being urgently called on to repair the weather-observation technology, as it remained offline for the third week in a row.

The Brisbane weather radar experienced incomplete radar scans and related outages in February following several days of stormy weather.

The bureau said it was “seeking to resolve the root cause of these issues urgently with the radar manufacturer” and is “estimated (to) return to service date (in) mid-March”.

The radar was taken offline on February 20. At the time, the weather bureau said repairing the radar was a priority.

“The frequency and recurrence of these issues is of concern, and is being given our urgent attention,” a spokesman said.

“In the meantime, southeast Queensland has overlapping radar coverage from Marburg, and also Gympie to the north and Grafton further south.

“While radar is an important tool used for observations, the bureau’s weather forecasts and warnings are based on a combination of many different observing systems.

“The composite nature of these national systems allows forecasters to monitor and predict approaching weather even in areas where there is little or no radar coverage.”