SUPERCELL ALERT: Town evacuated, SEQ residents told ‘stay home’ for next 48hrs amid fierce 125km/h storms
Schools will be closed tomorrow and southeast Queensland residents told to stay home for the next 48 hours as fresh storms fire up over the flood-hit region. It comes after giant hail, torrential rain and an order from the Premier for parents to collect their children from school early on Thursday.
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Parents across South East Queensland have been asked to keep their children out of school on Friday and non-essential workers have been urged to stay home for the next two days as supercell storms threaten to smash the region.
It comes after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk asked parents from northern Moreton Bay to Bundaberg to collect their children early from school today “if safe to do so” and residents were evacuated from the Lockyer Valley town of Grantham.
The Bureau of Meteorology on Thursday evening cancelled a severe thunderstorm warning for the Somerset, Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay council areas.
However a general severe thunderstorm warning remained for the Wide Bay and Burnett region, parts of Capricornia, the Darling Downs and Granite Belt and the Southeast Coast.
About 20,000 properties in South East Queensland were still without power as of 7pm on Thursday, including around 11000 in Brisbane.
On the Sunshine Coast, around 3700 customers had been affected by the power outages, including over 1700 in Landsborough. Beerwah also had around 1000 customers affected.
Almost 2300 customers were without power in Ipswich, which was done from 3500 only a few hours before.
Brassall had also made up 807 of the Ipswich customers affected, but was down to 61 by 7pm.
Goodna had the most people affected in Ipswich with 432 customers, but this was down from over 1100 at 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Logan City had around 950 customers affected, with the highest total for any suburb in the area being the 238 customers affected in Underwood.
Gympie also continued to improve, down to 200 customers without power.
âš¡ Severe #thunderstorms are likely W of #Toowoomba and NE of #Dalby. Damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall are likely. A separate warning extending to the #Capricornia and #WideBay coasts is also current. See the latest at https://t.co/9WNDOhybhg. #QldStormpic.twitter.com/YHKMOhAFn3
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 3, 2022
READ THE FULL COVERAGE OF THE PREMIER’S CRUCIAL UPDATE REGARDING SCHOOLS AND SAFETY IN THE REGION FURTHER DOWN THE PAGE
Ms Palaszczuk’s warning comes amid “extremely unstable” weather conditions and 12 hours of havoc across the southeast.
Giant 6cm hail hammered towns early Thursday morning, while 48mm of rain was dumped in the Brisbane CBD in just 30 minutes.
All schools in South East Queensland will be closed on Friday, except for the children of essential workers, with residents across the region told to bunker down in their homes and stay off the roads for the next 48 hours.
Brisbane’s flood clean-up has also been halted until at least Saturday.
“In addition to early collections in those areas today, tomorrow schools across the entire south east region will only be open for children of essential workers,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“However, the message is stay off the roads and stay at home unless you really need to be out.
“This weather is of serious concern.
“Please listen into your local media stations and follow BOM warnings so you have all of the latest information, and stay safe.”
She said other schools would make local decisions depending on specific circumstances and would provide their own updates. Information on Queensland state school closures can be found at closures.qld.edu.au
It comes as the State Surf Life Saving Championships which were due to take place this weekend at the Sunshine Coast has been cancelled.
The decision was made by SLSQ’s Carnival Committee on Tuesday morning after the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services warned motorists should stay off the roads.
State Sport Officer Nigel Ward said the Sunshine Coast’s current beach conditions including water quality and clarity and debris in the ocean, made competition impractical and unsafe.
“We share in your disappointment of cancelling the competition but ultimately the safety of our competitors always comes first,” Mr Ward wrote in an email to officials, sponsors, partners, clubs, competitors.
This comes after the youth State Life Saving Championships were cancelled last Saturday.
Many competitors, their families and officials were trapped at the Sunshine Coast due to floodwater until Monday.
The Carnival Committee exhausted all options in rescheduling the championships at a later date, however, were forced to cancel due to pre-existing large-scale events already organised on the Sunshine Coast.
Flood-soaked southeast residents have been placed on another alert as they face yet another round of severe storms this afternoon with the Bureau of Meteorology warning wild storms and flash flooding will “really ramp up” on Thursday afternoon, bringing possible 125km/h damaging wind gusts and giant 5cm hail stones, amid fears of a supercell forming.
The Lockyer Valley Council has sounded the evacuation siren and QFES has issued an emergency alert telling residents to spread the word and begin relocating.
“Residents are being asked to relocate to family or friends in a safe area until conditions settle and to warn others,” it said.
Ms Palaszczuk said “severe conditions” would be experienced in northern Moreton Bay, and all the way up to Bundaberg.
“This is of serious concern,” she said.
Two emergency meetings have already been held on Thursday morning to discuss the “unsettled weather” and the “large damage” that had already occurred, Ms Palaszczuk said.
She said major rises could also occur in the Bremer River, in Ipswich, and there may be flash flooding in Brisbane.
“But our immediate concern is that northern region,” she said.
She asked all residents to subscribe to the Bureau of Meteorology app and tune in to emergency broadcasts.
“Today is the day to be listening,” she said.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has announced that the Mud Army 2.0 cannot continue until mid-Saturday at the earliest.
The Lord Mayor reportedly had a phone call with the Premier who confirmed that update.
In a thread of posts on Twitter, the Lord Mayor revealed that this was due to the Queensland Government’s advice that all non-essential workers stay at home over the coming days.
“I know thousands of you will be disappointed at this delay, however, we must put safety first,” Cr Schrinner wrote.
“We still hope to revive the Mud Army as soon as possible to help Brisbane get back on its feet.”
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
– Severe storms slammed into southeast Queensland this morning with 48mm in 30mins dumped in Brisbane and 6cm hail recorded elsewhere
– Fears a supercell storm will form across today
– Grantham residents are being evacuated amid flash flooding
– Parents from northern Moreton Bay right up to Bundaberg are being asked to pick up their kids from school as soon as possible, once safe
– All southeast Queensland residents asked to stay home and off roads today and tomorrow amid ‘extremely unstable weather condition’
– Parents across the southeast have been asked to keep their children at home on Friday, with the Education Minister confirming schools will be open for essential workers, but everyone else should stay at home
– Residents in flood-ravaged suburbs have been told to stop cleaning up and not to return to their homes while this weather situation continues to unfold, saying there are ‘life- threatening’ thunderstorms. Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy said people who had been inundated over the past few days, “there is a possibility your home will be inundated again”.”Please do not move back into your homes if you have been inundated,” he said.” What we don’t want is for emergency services at midnight tonight needing to come back into those areas and evacuate you again.”
SUPERCELL WARNING FOR 93KM/H WINDS
The fresh possible supercell warning comes after fierce, fast-moving storms slammed into the southeast this morning, dumping up to 39mm of rain in just 15 minutes, giant 6cm hail and whipping up 93km/h wind gusts leaving more than 34,000 without power.
At 1.53pm, the Bureau issued a severe thunderstorm warning for people in Wide Bay and Burnett, parts of Capricornia, and Darling Downs and Granite Belt forecast districts.
The Bureau has warned of damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that could potentially lead to flash flooding.
âš ï¸â›ˆï¸Severe thunderstorm #warning issued for heavy rainfall, damaging winds, and large hail through the Wide Bay and Burnett, southern Capricornia, and Darling Downs and Granite Belt districts. Details and updates: https://t.co/FBmpsInT9opic.twitter.com/8ydh7kANZa
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 3, 2022
Areas including Warwick, Dalby, Bundaberg, Kingaroy, Hervey Bay and Stanthorpe may potentially be impacted by the storm.
The next update is set to be released by 4.55pm.
The intensity of the rain caused extreme flash flooding that put drenched suburbs like Auchenflower back under water just as residents began the flood clean up.
Milton and Rosalie residents who had cleaned up yesterday face the heartbreaking prospect of doing it all over again after this morning’s rain bomb saw water rise within 20 minutes.
Manholes blew off with geysers of water shooting high into the air at one point.
However, there’ll be little respite with another round of severe storms producing damaging wind gusts of up to 90km/h and up to 2cm of hail likely hit the southeast over the next several hours.
A supercell may arise from these storms, causing extremely dangerous wind gusts reaching 125km/h and giant hail measuring more than 5cm.
BOM atmospheric scientist Brooke Pagel said any rainfall is likely to lead to flash flooding over the southeast due to the already saturated catchments; however, if the supercell hits, that flooding would become life-threatening.
“Storms are going to really ramp up this afternoon,” Ms Pagel said.
“Severe storms likely to produce damaging 90km/h winds, large hail, heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding are possible over the next several hours but also throughout the day.
“There is a high risk of dangerous conditions if a supercell develops producing destructive wind gusts of over 125km/h, giant hail over 5cm and intense rainfall causing life-threatening flash flooding.
“Because the catchment is already saturated from our rainfall, flash flooding is a real concern today because even if we don’t get much rainfall, it will still lead to river rises.”
The whole of South East Queensland remains in the firing line, with the widespread system predicted to track in an easterly or south-easterly direction.
“Because of the way the weather system is set up at the moment, all of South East Queensland is at risk,” Ms Pagel said.
“We’ve already had a batch of severe storms move through the areas from the Gold Coast all the way up to Bundaberg, moving in an easterly direction.
“I think they will track south, south easterly, but this could change if they (storms) come from the south. They’re not likely to come from or on shore because it’s not warm enough.”
The insurance bill of the ongoing Queensland and New South Wales flood catastrophe has reached an estimated $900m, with still no end to the disaster in sight.
PREMIER’S CRUCIAL UPDATE AS SOUTHEAST SLAMMED BY STORMS
Parents across the southeast have been asked to keep their children at home on Friday, with the Education Minister confirming schools will be open for essential workers, but everyone else should stay at home.
It follows calls for parents of children at schools from the northern Moreton Bay region up to Bundaberg to pick their children up Thursday, as soon as it is safe to do so, in preparation for forecast storms later.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Grantham residents have been evacuated as a precaution as wild weather continues to lash the southeast.
She said “severe conditions” would be experienced in northern Moreton Bay, and all the way up to Bundaberg.
“This is of serious concern,” she said.
The Premier asked residents to collect their children from school in those areas “when it is safe” as a precaution.
“They are safe at school until they can come and collect them,” she said.
Two emergency meetings had been held Thursday morning to discuss the “unsettled weather” and the “large damage” that had already occurred, Ms Palaszczuk said.
Ms Palaszczuk said major rises could also occur in the Bremer River, in Ipswich., and there may be flash flooding in Brisbane.
“But our immediate concern is that northern region,” she said.
She asked all residents to subscribe to the Bureau of Meteorology app and tune in to emergency broadcasts.
“Today is the day to be listening,” she said
“Everyone, please listen to the alerts.
“This is a serious situation and these are unprecedented times.
“I’ve lived in Brisbane essentially all of my life and I haven’t seen storms and floods like this all being thrown at us at once.”
She asked people whose homes had flooded not to return to those homes in the next 24 hours, saying emergency services did not want to have to rescue people again tonight in rising waters.
Authorities said catchments were so waterlogged, they could not cope with further rain and water would rise quickly and suddenly.
There had been “incredibly intense” rain across parts of the southeast and hail.
“With severe thunderstorms come severe hazards and phenomenon and that doesn’t just include the heavy rain,” a Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman said.
Moderate flooding is expected in Ipswich this afternoon about midday and major flooding is expected tonight.
Saturated Brisbane creeks are already rising and they were “of real concern and were a real focus”.
“They will rise when they see any rainfall,” she said.
There was also a high risk of flash flooding, with little to no warning.
Severe storms were expected into tonight and on Friday, into the weekend.
Any rain was expected to cause impacts over this time, she said.
More than 80mm of rain has been recorded in the Grantham catchment this morning. The emergency siren was activated and residents are being evacuated as a precaution.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said there had already been nine deaths over the past week.
She said there was potential for flash flooding “anywhere” including in areas that did not usually experience flash flooding.
She said anyone who didn’t need to be on the roads should not be.
“So I ask again, that you please be incredibly careful out there in those areas that have already been heavily impacted and are evacuated,” Ms Carroll said.
Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy said people who had been inundated over the past few days, “there is a possibility your home will be inundated again”.
“Please do not move back into your homes if you have been inundated,” he said.
“What we don’t want is for emergency services at midnight tonight needing to come back into those areas and evacuate you again.”
He said people should put their clean-up activities on hold, with conditions expected to become “dangerous”.
People should also keep across emergency alerts, with storm cells developing quickly.
Mr Chelepy said people should stay off the roads.
“We will see rapid rises in our creeks … we don’t want people trapped on the road between creeks,” he said.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said authorities were sharing the latest information now, but warned that could change quickly.
“The nature of these things is that that can change rapidly and so we’re urging people to register for the BOM updates and keep an eye out for the emergency alerts that are issued by local government,” he said.
“Please, please stay safe and heed these warnings.”
QFES Commissioner Greg Leach said one swiftwater rescue had already occurred in Grantham.
He warned the sodden ground also made trees unstable, with the risk they could fall and present a major danger to people as well.
Ms Palaszczuk said the safest place to be would be in their homes with their families, not out on the roads.
That would allow emergency personnel to have clear roads.
However, people’s homes that have already been flooded should stay away from them.
The BOM spokeswoman said two factors were causing the weather conditions – a lot of moisture in the air and unstable air, which made it ripe conditions for severe thunderstorms. She said it was hard to say when there was so much rainfall.
Mr Miles said there would be time when the storms passed to continue cleaning up as he urged people to be aware of warnings. A swift water rescue has been conducted within the past half and hour at Grantham.
Ms Palaszczuk was asked about community criticism that they weren’t warned early enough regarding last weekend’s storms.
“You know, we did go through this, with all due respect, the other day,” she said.
She said authorities were bringing people information as soon as they had it.
She said Mr Miles was discussing a support package for businesses with the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison.
She said Mr Morrison had indicated the Australian Defence Force could be deployed to help with the clean up.
VIOLENT NIGHT AND EARLY MORNING ACROSS SOUTHEAST
Very dangerous storms slammed into the southeast this morning, delivering giant six-centimetre hail, 93km/h wind gusts and intense rain bursts of 39mm in just 15 minutes to the already saturated region and leaving more than 34,000 without power.
The very dangerous storms swept across southeast turning the sky green and dumping 48mm of rain on Brisbane’s CBD in just 30 minutes to 7.30am, but by 8.30am, all storm warnings had been cancelled.
The extreme flash flooding has put already drenched suburbs like Auchenflower back under water just as residents begin the flood clean up.
Minister for transport Mark Bailey at 8am issued an emergency warning to Brisbane residents, urging them to stay home and off the roads.
“The rain is very heavy, torrential in the CBD,” Mr Bailey said.
“We want people to stay home and off the road. This will certainly be a problem out there and we don’t want any more fatalities.”
Milton quantity surveyor Andrew Brady, who got out his tinnie with neighbour Tim Bryant to help locals, said: “People are broken. They can’t do it (clean up) a second time.’’
Retired chippie Steven Harrison, who lost utes, his beloved motorbikes, fridges, washing machines, power tools and much more, said he had cleaned out under the Torwood St home he has lived in since 1984 and even managed to save some items.
“It’s back in underneath again, not as high this time but I’ll have to do it all over again,’’ he said.
“I’ve never seen the water come up so fast. It was 20 minutes.
“Council spent millions on backflow prevention devices but it doesn’t seem to have helped much.’’
Milton Tennis Centre manager Mark Bloomfield had also nearly finished cleaning up yesterday only to have to start all over again this morning.
“It’s going to take another two days to clean up now. It would help if we had power so we could get in generators but at least we have gas and the water is on so we can blast it,’’ he said.
“We’re hoping we can reopen Sunday. I’ve got 10 staff and four to five people in the shop who are calling me wanting to know when they can start work again.’’
bris from the previous flood event is blocking drains.
Command operator for the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services John Cawcutt told media storms could lead to further flash flooding in the Brisbane area, particularly in areas where de
“We’re seeing very intense rainfall right across Brisbane suburbs. It’s a bit of a challenge at the moment, particularly with the saturated grounds,” Mr Cawcutt said.
“We’ve still got clean up crews out there working but obviously there’s the potential that is going to impact on some of the work being done.
“While we’ve got these storms, we’ve got lightning, guys in water, the potential for rising waters, creeks rising quickly. A lot of the drains are also blocked from debris, there’s debris up against fences that haven’t been cleared yet which would restrict the flow of water.
Commander Cawcutt said QFES is issuing a safety message for drivers to stay off the roads and for residents to stay at home.
“It’s a safety message at the moment,” he said.
“Anywhere we’ve got the potential for rain we could see flash flooding again and we don’t want more people caught and needing to be rescued.”
The intense rain delivered by a very dangerous thunderstorm that raced over the Brisbane CBD caused flash flooding on already saturated roads, with water quickly inundating properties and motorists forced to pull over due to the storm’s intensity.
At Auchenflower, water was pouring out of road man holes and quickly filling the street which was already filled with flood-damaged furniture.
The Brisbane River at the Port Office gauge recorded the river height at the minor flood level 1.70m at 8.06am on Thursday morning.
At 8.13am the flood level at the CBD gauge recorded the river height as 1.69m, just below the minor flood level of 1.70m. The next high tide for Brisbane is expected at 10.42am.
The Sunshine Coast hinterland was slammed by severe storms overnight, as an epic flood recovery effort continues across the region to repair torn up roads and damaged homes.
And Maroochydore recorded 52mm in the 30 minutes to 7:30am.
Further south, Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen said roads were already going back underwater in the region.
“It’s dumped a lot of rain in a lot of our small upper catchments,” he told ABC Gold Coast.
“From east to west across the region since about 2 o’clock this morning, the flood gauges have started going up again.”
Cr Christensen said the area around Boonah had seen significant rain and the Teviot Brook Crossing was ‘just about to go under’.
He said some areas remained cut off because of flood-damaged roads and it was hoped the storms would not interfere with urgent repairs.
A person has been taken to the Gold Coast Private Hospital after lightning struck their Helensvale house about 8.40am this morning. QAS has reported the person is in a stable condition and was taken to hospital as a precaution.
The Bureau of Meteorology on Wednesday warned of “very dangerous” thunderstorms including giant hail for Thursday into Friday, and they began overnight, delivering 39mm in 15 minutes to 3:15am at Maroon Dam, 66mm in 30 minutes to 3am at Woodford and 44mm in 30 minutes to 4:45am at Cooyar (near Nanango).
Giant hail around five to six centimetres was recorded just west of Inglewood around 12:10am, and at Windera around 7:30 – 8pm while a 93 km/h wind gust was recorded at Dalby Airport.at 7:15pm.
Sunshine Coast woman Monique Abdesselem said her home was hit by “huge hailstones” about 3am, saying “it’s put a huge gum tree through the window into the house and snapped off the live powerlines off the top of the house”.
Queensland SES crews received 170 calls for assistance overnight and conducted one emergency swift water rescue.
Between 3pm Wednesday to 5am Thursday, Brisbane residents called SES crews 78 times, while Ipswich, Gold Coast and Logan residents needed assistance 37 times.
The Sunshine Coast, which has been hit hard with storms this morning, called SES crews 45 times.
There was only one swift water rescue required.
It came as Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the scale of the floods was ‘worse than 2011’.
“The difference between this disaster and the 2011 one is very stark, and it’s just all of that creek flooding as well as that river flooding,” Mr Schrinner told ABC Radio Brisbane.
“The scale is bigger in many ways than 2011. The river may not have come up as high, but the destruction is more widespread – massively more widespread.”
“There’s 190 suburbs in Brisbane and every single one of them was impacted,” Mr Schrinner said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Logan residents could be cut off for days despite floodwaters starting to recede.
About 2pm on Wednesday, an amber flood alert was declared for South East Queensland due to the weather system and the potential for rainfall up to 80mm. High intensity rainfall associated with any thunderstorms could result in isolated totals greater than 150mm.
POWER OUT FOR DAYS TO COME
More than 33,000 Energex customers were without power in South East Queensland as of 11am on Thursday, including over 16,000 in Brisbane.
More than 8,500 customers are also without power in Ipswich City, with the suburb of Goodna making up 1138 of those.
Gympie also continues to report significant improvements on yesterday’s numbers, having had over 1600 properties without power at one stage on Tuesday afternoon. That number has now been reduced to 219 customers without power.
Recovery works are continuing in Gympie where 2000 homes were impacted by flooding, with 160 sustaining major damage, while about 60 homes have been inundated in Logan despite dire early predictions of a one-in-200-year flood.
About 200 homes have been affected by the flooding.
âš ï¸ #Flood Watch has been issued for #SEQ catchments for the risk of renewed rises from heavy rainfall associated with #storms. Catchments remain very wet and river levels remain high. Follow the advice of local emergency services @QldFES. See https://t.co/KcyfFyegu0 for updates. pic.twitter.com/DvUwcFepqx
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 2, 2022
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, speaking in Gympie, said there was a low probability of isolated, “very dangerous” thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon and evening in the southeast.
“There is some concern about these very dangerous thunderstorms,” she said.
“We’re not out of the woods.”
There are 379 people currently in evacuation centres while all schools – except 81 – are open.
It comes as the clean-up continues across Brisbane, Ipswich and Logan and the death toll for the ongoing flood disaster rose to nine, with another man still missing.
Meanwhile the Premier said she and Deputy Premier Steven Miles had discussed whether displaced residents impacted by the floods could stay at the state government’s Wellcamp quarantine facility.
“I think it would be difficult for families … but Wellcamp is there,” she said.
“It is there to be used.
“I understand some families are utilising it at the moment.
“If there are people who are single or couples and their homes have been completely devastated, that is an option for them.”
The Premier said there was “some spare capacity” at Wellcamp at the moment.
FLOOD ‘TOURISTS’ SLAMMED BY ANGRY LOCALS
Flood ‘tourists’ are angering locals trying to deal with the devastation on the Tweed.
The Tweed Shire Council has issued a warning to sightseers taking photos and videos of the muddy mess to ‘stay away’.
“Our communities are currently frustrated by passing motorists filming and photographing as they deal with this situation,” the council posted on its Facebook page on Thursday.
“Unless you are entering a flooded community to help someone with their clean-up, stay out of flood-affected areas. Now is not the time for sightseeing.
“Our communities need time to deal with the devastating impacts of the flood. They need to do this with privacy so they can deal with the highly emotional moment – respect that people are cleaning up their lives.”
The Tweed has been hit by some of the worst flooding on record, with tens of thousands of homes and businesses inundated and many residents still isolated.
BUREAU WARNS OF STORMS, INTENSE RAINFALL
The Bureau of Meteorology says there is the possibility of intense rainfall that could again lead to flash flooding and renewed river rises over the next three days. There is also a chance of large hail and destructive winds.
The Bureau said showers would begin to fall on parts of the southeast tonight as the new system makes its way over the state’s coastal regions.
However, rainfall predictions have increased since Wednesday morning, with up to 25mm now forecast to fall in Brisbane on Thursday and a further 40mm on Friday.
Meteorologist James Thompson said storms were forecast to hit the Darling Downs and Granite Belt regions first, with the possibility for rainfall to continue into tomorrow.
“Storms are likely to impact the southeast Thursday into Friday,” Mr Thompson said.
“There’s a chance that we’ll see storms this evening, and pretty good chance tomorrow as well, whether it be leftovers from the day before or severe storms through the southeast tomorrow afternoon and evening.
â›ˆï¸ Severe #storms likely across #SEQ on Thursday across flooded areas. Heavy to intense rainfall, large to giant hail and damaging to destructive wind gusts are possible. Flash flooding and renewed river rises possible with any heavy rain. Latest: https://t.co/CK1YVbwoZp. pic.twitter.com/dW8hqNnE6l
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 2, 2022
“Storms could bring a short period of heavy rainfall and damaging wind gusts but we will release further warnings if that happens.”
The new weather system is not as slow moving as the last, meaning rainfall conditions should be lighter compared to the recent flood event.
Humidity will also play a key role over the next few days, as summer storm conditions return.
“We’re going to be fairly warm today, 32C in the city,” Mr Thompson said.
“Tomorrow it could be cooler but it is going to be very humid and that will stick around until next week.”
HOMES FLOOD, EVACUATIONS AS LOGAN FLOOD LEVELS PEAK
Hundreds of Logan residents face the prospect of being cut off for days as monster flood levels start to slowly recede.
Despite dire early predictions of a one-in-200-year flood, only about 60 homes in the region have reportedly been inundated with water, but about 200 properties have been affected by the flooding.
Hundreds of other properties which have not sustained any damage have been cut off with some roads around Bethania, Logan and Waterford still sitting under metres of water.
State Emergency Service boats have spent the day ferrying supplies including staples such as bread and milk to isolated properties.
At its height on Tuesday, water levels exceeded the 2017 floods by 60cm, but fell two metres short of the infamous 1974 floods.
Flooding damaged about 60 homes, but that figure is much lower than the 2017 number as the council has bought back dozens of properties in flood-prone areas.
About 25 people are sheltering in the city’s evacuation centre. Logan Mayor Darren Power said a “huge clean-up” would be required.
“It’s a huge job,” he said.
“We have 200 roads underwater.
“But it certainly could have been worse if the rain didn’t stop when it did on Sunday.
“Otherwise it would have been about a one-in-200-year flood instead of a one-in-50.”
Mayor Power said he had spoken to many of the people at the evacuation
centre who were struggling.
“A lot of them don’t have insurance, so this will really knock them around.
“We’re working with the department of housing to try and get them taken care of.”
Almost 30,000 Energex customers were still without power this morning.
FLOOD DEATH TOLL RISES TO NINE
Nine people have now lost their lives in this disaster, after police found the body of a 76-year-old man who had been missing in floodwaters.
The man, who reportedly went missing on the Brisbane Valley Highway on Sunday evening, was found by police divers early Tuesday morning.
He was located inside his submerged vehicle in floodwaters in Paddy Gully Creek.
Grave fears are still held for a man in his 70s who is believed to have fallen from a yacht into the Brisbane River at Bulimba on Saturday afternoon.
Logan Mayor Darren Power said 19 properties had been inundated and many more had been isolated.
Cr Power said 4000 properties could expect to be without electricity for days, worse than in 2017.
To add to people’s woes, more than 200 roads were closed across Logan creating traffic chaos especially in Beenleigh which was cut off by flooding on three sides.
The township, which is surrounded by the Albert and Logan rivers, was in gridlock throughout the day with peak-hour traffic from Brisbane banking up to the northern M1 turn-off.
Cr Power said the city had been expecting massive flooding on Sunday night with predictions for a one-in-200-year flood.
But he said less-than-predicted rainfall on Sunday night brought the statistics down to a one-in-50-year flood.
“It’s still bad but nowhere near as bad as what we thought it was going to be,” he said.
The council opened up an evacuation centre at Crestmead with 19 people from Maclean and Munruben staying overnight.
NEW FLOOD WATCH FOR SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND
An amber flood watch has been declared for South East Queensland due to the threat of severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall from Thursday.
A trough will move across the southeast during Thursday and early on Friday and may linger into the weekend, maintaining unstable conditions.
This will result in thunderstorms developing and bring further rainfall from Wednesday evening into Thursday, with further rainfall possible into the weekend.
Widespread rainfall totals of 20-80mm are possible across the flood watch area. High intensity rainfall associated with any thunderstorms could result in isolated totals greater than 150mm.
Catchments remain very wet following rainfall over the last week and creek and river levels remain high with flood warnings continuing for most of the flood watch area.
Higher than normal tides are currently being observed but will decrease over the next few days.
Renewed rises are possible across the flood watch area and areas of minor to major flooding may redevelop, however, peak levels are expected to be below those observed over recent days. There is a risk for localised flash flooding with heavy rainfall as catchments remain saturated.
Catchments likely to be affected include:
Burnett River (Barambah, Barker and Boonara Creeks)
Burrum and Cherwell Rivers
Mary River
Noosa River
Sunshine Coast Rivers and Creeks
Pine and Caboolture Rivers
Upper Brisbane River
Lower Brisbane River
Logan and Albert Rivers
Gold Coast Rivers and Creeks
Condamine Rivers (Upper Condamine and tributaries)
Macintyre River
Weir River
GYMPIE RECOVERY ONGOING AFTER RECORD FLOODS
Two thousand homes in Gympie have been impacted by Queensland’s recent weather event while 160 homes have sustained major damage.
Energy Minister Mick de Brenni, who is visiting Gympie with Ms Palaszczuk, said 140,000 properties across the southeast lost power at some point amid the floods.
This peaked at 57,000 homes at one point.
Mr de Brenni said electricity at 6000 Gympie properties had been affected however this was now down to 600.
WOMAN TRAPPED IN FLOODWATERS AT JIMBOOMBA
Authorities were forced to conduct a rescue of a woman trapped in floodwaters at Jimboomba early this morning.
The woman, who was reportedly out looking at flooding, got stuck in neck-high water but was able to phone for help.
The 40-year-old was believed to be travelling on a scooter before becoming trapped.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services found the woman clinging to a street sign in neck deep flood waters near Cusack Lane and Henderson Rd in Jimboomba about 2.30am on Wednesday.
A swift water rescue team was able to bring her back to land where paramedics were waiting to assess her.
The woman was uninjured and did not require hospital transport.
A metre of rain in days and more to come
There have been six SES call-outs across the Whitsundays in the past 24 hours as the region is battered by staggering rainfall totals, with more expected in the coming days as the monster weather system shifts south.
Metre of rain in 3 days: New regions at risk as monster low shifts south
A monster tropical low that has battered far north Queensland for days dumping nearly a metre of rain in 72 hours is shifting south, bringing warnings of heavy deluges and widespread flooding.