Qld floods: Man dead as more wild weather sweeps southeast

A man has been swept to his death and a woman narrowly escaped as severe storms once again smashed flood-hit southern Queensland, bringing giant hail, heavy rain and flash flooding.

A man’s body has been found in his car after he was swept off a flooded crossing in the South Burnett region late yesterday.

As multiple supercell storms lashed southern Queensland, the incident happened on MP Creek Rd in the Wondai region about 5pm.

Several swiftwater rescue crews rushed to the scene, saving a woman in her 60s who had escaped the vehicle and was clinging to a tree amid rapidly rising floodwaters.

Members of the public helped her to safety before paramedics arrived and took her to hospital with no physical injuries.

The submerged car was later found but crews could not safely access it until about 11.30pm, when the body of a man in his 60s was recovered.

He was the 12th fatality since flooding devastated southern Queensland in recent weeks.

Another rescue was under way at Byee, also in the South Burnett, after another driver became trapped in rising floodwaters.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services and police were able to make the vehicle safe and move the driver to higher ground.

Early reports indicate he was uninjured and will be taken to hospital for observation.

In yesterday’s storm chaos Brisbane’s Burbank received 72mm rainfall in an hour, while surrounding suburbs Holland Park, Mt Gravatt, Wishart, Rochedale South and Mansfield all recorded over 50mm.

Hail measuring up to 9cm was found at Beaudesert in the Scenic Rim and Cedar Vale at Logan.

More than 11,000 homes across Brisbane, the Scenic Rim, Lockyer Valley and Noosa were without power after the violent storms.

Stormclouds loom over Brisbane yesterday. Picture: John Gass

In Tanby, Central Queensland, a tornado caused minor damage.

There were also reports of 140mm of rain at Keppel Sands, with extreme wind conditions.

The Logan River was the subject of a minor flood warning last night, after rainfall totals of 10-60mm were recorded across the Logan and Albert catchments and higher totals of 50-60mm were recorded in the Beaudesert area.

Major flood warnings remained in place for Eyre Creek as well as the Condamine, Balonne and Weird rivers and the lower Macintyre and lower Moonie rivers.

Laidley and Warrill creeks have moderate flood warnings in place, while minor flood warnings remained for the Brisbane and Bremer rivers.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sam Campbell said with the exception of the disastrous flood event last week, the amount of storm activity over the southeast was typical for a La Niña year.

“(On Monday) there’s a slight chance of a shower and thunderstorm in the early morning, as with Tuesday and then on Wednesday we start to see the weather increasing with possible severe storms again,” he said.

“There’s more moisture, more showers, more storms around.”

The wild weather came as the recovery effort from last week’s devastating floods continued yesterday.

Large hail at Cedar Vale in Logan. Picture: Sarah Becht

Large hail at Cedar Vale in Logan. Picture: Sarah Becht

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk kicked off a donation campaign, announcing the State Government would donate $2.1 million to five charities.

There won’t be a government-run appeal, with Queenslanders instead being urged to donate directly to charities to ensure funds can be quickly dispersed to those in need.

Ms Palaszczuk said the floods had packed a punch, and it would take months for those who had been affected to recover, as she urged the community to dig deep.

Of the $2.1 million to be donated by the Government, $500,000 each will be given to the Australian Red Cross, Lifeline, the Salvation Army, and St Vincent de Paul Society, with $100,000 to go to GIVIT.

“These organisations that I’ve mentioned have done an outstanding contribution of helping people in times of need in past natural disasters across Queensland,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “What we believe the best thing for people to do is to donate to these organisations because they have a proven track record of getting money out the door to where it’s needed most.”

Businesses are already making sizeable donations, with the BHP Foundation giving $2 million to support emergency relief in both Queensland and NSW, and the Star Entertainment group donating $200,000.

Dean Brown and Louise Bareham finishing their flood clean-up on Logan Ave, Oxley, in Brisbane’s southwest. Picture: Steve Pohlner

News Corp Australia, publisher of The Courier-Mail, on Friday committed $1 million to aid the recovery of communities devastated by the floods, and to help people rebuild their lives.

Treasurer Cameron Dick indicated that he would give an update on the recovery bill across the southeast after today’s Cabinet meeting.

“We’re working on that tally at the moment, but it will be a big cost for an event that really just lasted three days and the consequences will run for some weeks now,” he said.

Ms Palaszczuk suggested last week that costs for the disaster would easily reach into the billions.

Mr Dick said the Government would need to spend money on a range of state-owned infrastructure and facilities, such as roads, rail, schools and bridges.

Ms Palaszczuk said that she would announce in the coming days who would take up the role of recovery co-ordinator following discussions with Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

All state schools, except for six, will reopen across the southeast today.

Of the 180,000 homes and businesses that lost power due to the flood event last week, over 98 per cent have had service restored.

Despite storms affecting another 11,000 properties last night, Energex said it was on track to have most customers who lost power due to floods reconnected by today.

Only 4600 customers were experiencing power outages as of 11pm on Sunday.

Large hail at Cedar Vale in Logan. Picture: Katie Barnes

Large hail at Cedar Vale in Logan. Picture: Ashley Evans