Houses flooded, 180+ roads cut: Logan, Ipswich hit by Alfred’s aftermath
Ipswich residents are asked to prepare to leave in the next couple of hours following the intense rainfall brought by the aftermath of tropical cyclone Alfred. SEE SHELTER LIST
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Ipswich residents are asked to prepare to leave in the next couple of hours following the intense rainfall brought by the aftermath of tropical cyclone Alfred.
Ipswich City Council issued an emergency alert at 11.39am on Monday, asking its residents to watch and act as the heavy rainfall was bringing dangerous flash flooding.
Inland areas from Logan to Ipswich have suffered significant flooding on Monday as the rain bomb brought by the ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred shifted towards west.
Residents from suburbs from Bundamba to Blackstone were stranded as their houses were flooded.
However, many residents told The Courier-Mail while the flood waters were slow to rise, they were quick to retreat, and many areas were only flooded for a matter of hours leaving some homes dodging a bullet.
The Bureau of Meteorology expected major flooding across the Logan and Ipswich catchments on Monday and Tuesday with more rain incoming.
BOM was telling residents of Beenleigh and Eagleby to expect major flooding on Monday afternoon.
■ 12 things you need to know right now
Major flood warning has been issued for Bremer River, Warrill Creek and Logan and Albert Rivers, after 214.6mm recorded in Greenbank in the past 24 hours.
Bremer River was at 15.42m high at 10am and still rising, while Logan River was rising as high as 14.96m.
The river levels were expected to peak later on Monday at about 10.3m in the Albert River at Beenleigh, with major flooding also expected to occur due to additional upstream flows.
The Bureau of Meteorology said flood peaks are all conditional on the rainfall conditions that happen over the next six to eight hours.
Parts of the Logan River are already in flood with a number of parks and roads closed.
Skinners Park, which is on the river at Carbrook opposite Eagleby, was closed after it was flooded, with the water lapping the top of picnic tables in rotundas.
The land adjacent to Skinners Rd and the park have been earmarked to be part of the six-lane Coomera Connector.
The river broke its banks early this morning flooding dozens of properties at Eagleby on the southern side and homes and the park on the northern side.
There were two emergency alerts in place for Logan, including at Tamborine, Cedar Creek, Wolffdene, Windaroo, Mount Warren Park, Beenleigh, and Eagleby, along with Greenbank and New Beith.
Police doorknocked Eagleby and Beenleigh along with Bannockburn.
Eight vehicles were affected by flood waters and at least one home in Beenleigh was inundated.
More than 113 roads in Logan City Council area and more than 75 roads in Ipswich City Council area were closed, including parts of Pacific Motorway, Logan Motorway, Warrego Highway and Mt Lindesay Highway.
Major infrastructures including Beenleigh station were also submerged in water, with Queensland Rail running a limited services.
The Beenleigh line runs from Central to Kuraby, Springfield line from Central to Springfield Central and Ipswich line from Central to Bundamba.
Ipswich City Council announced that the council opened the two places of refuge on Monday morning, days after the Logan City Council operating three temporary refuge shelters and an evacuation centre, housing more than 30 people for a rough sleep.
Homeowners on Videroni St next to the Bundamba Racecourse were the last to see flood waters go down, leaving approximately 15 to 20 houses isolated.
Anthony Blaslov, whose home had been flooded in both the 2022 floods and Christmas Day storms, said on Sunday night the water rose to just 60cm less than the devastating 2022 floods.
“We actually went to bed at 8pm last night, and it didn’t come into the house until 9, and then the misses woke me up at midnight saying ‘the house is flooded’,” Mr Blaslov said.
Having been through similar events before, Mr Blaslov said they used the five days of notice to prepare and move valuable items from their bottom floor.
“It was good getting the notice, but then I just wanted it over, it was gonna happen,” he said.
By Monday afternoon the Bundamba resident was beginning to hose mud and vegetation from the bottom level of the home, a clean up that may be threatened by ongoing rain in Logan and surrounds.
“It’s all the rain that could come down from the Bremer River, they’re saying 12 and a half meters – might be more than that,” he said.
“Logan is where the flood water comes from, coming down from Bundamba Creek – Logan, Greenbank area.
“Every bit there falls into our catchment,” Mr Blaslov said.
Ipswich City Council also said there will be catch-up waste collection on Monday, despite their residents being trapped in their flooded homes.
“Catch-up waste collection services for suburbs affected by cancellations on Thursday and Friday are running today,” a spokesman said.
“Please leave your red-lidded bin out and drivers will endeavour to pick it up.”
Oxley residents underwent a stressful night as flood levels began to rise at rapid speeds in the early hours of Monday morning.
Notorious for its flooding, Oxley Rd became a river overnight, cutting off residents in several low-lying streets.
While many had learned from the 2022 disaster and raised their homes metres off the ground, others still found water rushing through the bottom levels or they became trapped in their own streets.
Alara Saroglia and Hayden Edwards had never been through a flooding event before, only having moved to their Oxley Rd home last year.
“It would have been about 3.30 this morning (the water began to rise),” Ms Saroglia said.
“I was up till like 2.30, 3 o’clock, and it was just down near the roundabout, it hadn’t risen so far yet, and my partner got up at work this morning at 6am and it had completely changed, it was flooded completely at the back.”
The pair said they did not have time to leave by the time the water had risen to the bottom steps of their Queenslander, but had luckily taken precautions to move as many valuables as possible from the bottom floor.
“I was quite surprised, to be honest,” Ms Saroglia said.
“We honestly expected it to just stay low level, ended up fizzling out, and then it changed dramatically overnight.”
By late Monday morning the bottom level of their home was still waist deep in water, which had destroyed many belongings including a fridge and washing machine.
Mr Edwards, an Energex worker, was planning to leave for the Gold Coast to help in the clean-up, however was now trapped inside his home.
“Most of our teams are cut in half cause we have guys flooded in,” he said.
“We’re expecting a big week this week.”
While flood levels are slowly beginning to drop, rain was still hanging about with the worry surrounding high tide later this evening.
“I know that it says that we aren’t meant to receive rain, but anything will change at any moment,” Ms Saroglia said.
Logan City Council offered free waste disposal for the damages brought by the ex-tropical cyclone Alfred, but the council was still assessing the possibilities of kerbside pick-up.
Mayor Jon Raven said residents will be able to discharge their flood, storm and domestic waste free of charge for a week until March 16.
Mr Raven said this would allow everyone a bit of time to do the necessary clean-up.
“Our landfills and transfer stations will be very busy, because I know everyone is really keen to get in there and start cleaning up their yards and get rid of their domestic waste that has been building up,” he said.
“We were trying to do an assessment to see what we could do around getting a bin collection.
“It’s going to be very hard for us to even move residential waste with a limited number of trucks to the back, let alone trying to get the hundreds of trucks that would be doing a normal garbage collection.”
Mr Raven said the council was not planning to do a green waste pick-up.
“That may change based on the amount of green waste damage we see,” he said.
Ipswich councillor Paul Tully captured a recycling bin being washed down the fast-flowing Brisbane River at Goodna as its tributary Bremer River was on major flooding Monday.
“That’s an Ipswich City Council recycling bin going down the Brisbane River,” he said in the video.
“If you’ve lost your bin upstream, you might find it down in Moreton Bay.”
Evacuation Centre/Refuge Shelter
- Logan Metro Sports and Events Centre, 357 Browns Plains Road, Crestmead.
- Jimboomba’s Caddies Community Centre, 19-33 South Street, Jimboomba. Opening hours: 8am to 9pm
- Bethania Community Centre, 88-118 Station Road, Bethania. Opening hours: 7am to 7pm
- Logan Village Lions Club, 21-23 Wharf Street, Logan Village. Opening hours: 7am to 7pm
- Ipswich Showgrounds, 81 Warwick Road, Ipswich (enter via Parker Ave).
- Shiloh Church, 72 Redbank Plains Road, Goodna.
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