Qld weather: ‘I’m sorry’: Premier apologises for shutting schools after storms fail to eventuate

Annastacia Palaszczuk has apologised for inconveniencing southeast Queensland residents by ordering schools to close and urging people to stay at home after severe storms failed to eventuate. It comes as the floods have claimed a 10th life

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said sorry for inconveniencing parents by ordering schools across the southeast after severe storms failed to eventuate as a 10th flood death is also confirmed.

“I apologise for the inconvenience,” she said, following major backlash to the closures as southeast Queenslanders woke to calm skies on Friday.

“I do acknowledge there has been some inconvenience today for parents but safety has to come first.

“And at the end of the day, you can only act on the advice that you’re given and that advice given to me and to the senior management staff was that there was going to be very, very severe thunderstorms and hail yesterday.

She said the weather had been “unprecedented”.

“Let’s face it, it’s climate change,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk also said she could have done better on Thursday with her messaging around schools.

“Of course we can always do better, I always acknowledge that,” she said.

“Unfortunately there was some miscommunication and I have apologised for that.”

She said she apologised both for the confusion on Thursday around school pick-ups and around the more widespread closure of schools today.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pictured addressing the media at the Kedron Emergency Services Complex. Picture: Josh Woning

“But people are only human and you know we have to take the advice of the experts and that’s what we did,” she said.

“And, you know, safety has to come first and everyone can remember what happened with the tail end of Cyclone Debbie that time when the creeks and rivers did rise rapidly.

“We were advised that there was going to be destructive winds, large hail stones and the last thing I would want would be for a young child to lose their life during such an event such as that.”

It came after Queensland’s southeast woke to mild weather conditions today after wild storms early on Thursday sparked the concern and confusion.

Bureau of Meteorology’s Laura Boekel said showers and storms were forecast across the southeast, developing late in the morning and moving into the afternoon but it was a return to a more normal storm situation and would not be as intense or as widespread as Thursday.

As the weather improves, TransLink has announced that the Ferny Grove train service has resumed operating between all stations.

The Gold Coast line resumed today, but will only operate between Varsity Lakes and Ormeau. Rail buses are also running express between Ormeau and Kuraby.

The Beenleigh line will operate between Kuraby and Central, and the Cleveland service will operate between Lindum and Central.

The Ipswich/Rosewood line will operate between Ipswich and Brisbane’s Central station.

The Shorncliffe line will stop at stations between Northgate and Central, and the Sunshine Coast service will run from Nambour and Caboolture.

Hazardous surf conditions are expected for both the Gold and Sunshine coasts.

Ms Palaszczuk said volunteers could return to their clean-ups today thanks to the relaxed weather warnings, adding that the Mud Army was able to begin at first light Saturday.

She said that the way Queenslanders were getting on with this was “outstanding” and “the people of this state inspire me every day”.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath asked for people intending to help in the clean up, including in the Mud Army to get a tetanus shot before helping.

“We know after the 2011 floods we saw a number of people coming into EDs with seriously infected wounds and cuts, so if you do get any, go see your GP or if serious, obviously go to an emergency department,” she said.

The overnight discovery of the body of a 53-year-old man who was reported missing on Monday takes the flood disaster death toll to 10. The man’s body was found under a wharf at the Port of Brisbane.

There is still one person – who fell from a tinny in the Brisbane River – still missing.

Ms Palaszczuk said there are still 266 people in evacuation centres across the South East, for those who need assistance, while she confirmed she had written to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison for additional financial assistance, under Category D.

She said 5394 damage assessments had been completed and there had been 703 properties assessed as severely damaged, 886 at medium and 1033 as minor.

She said there were many more assessments to be made.

Trains were beginning to recommence and 140 schools had been assessed as being impacted, 64 of which were state schools.

Ms Palaszczuk said there were many schools damaged, including private schools.

“Children can’t return until it’s safe,” she said.

But she said authorities would do a great job of fixing schools as fast as possible, but more individual assessments needed to be made.

She said about 16,000 homes were without power and crews were working around the clock to restore power.

A woman walks through floodwaters at Vincent Street, Auchenflower on March 3. (Photo by Peter Wallis/Getty Images)

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the insurance council had clarified definitions around flooding since the 2011 flood event.

However, some people would not have been able to access insurance or afford it in particularly low-lying areas and they would be at greatest need of support and assistance, he said.

Mr Miles flagged the possibility of planning changes to deal with the increased potential for natural disasters in the years ahead.

He said there was “clearly a need for our planning system to properly consider, not just the history of disaster, but the projections going forward of how these disasters are likely to become more often and more severe and certainly I’m looking forward to talking with local government mayors about how they can incorporate into their planning schemes these likely impacts”.

“I have visited flooded areas in recent day that frankly, should not have been built upon.

“And so we need to both address that and work with those residents and councils for how we can mitigate flooding risks for them but also ensure that going forward we’re not building new homes on locations that are prone to flooding or indeed other natural disasters.”

He said the possibility of government resumptions of flood-prone land was not being discussed.

The clean up continues in Graceville as flood waters recede. Photo: Sarah Marshall

Australian Defence Force personnel were continuing to assist and there were about 260 troops deployed across areas including Gympie and Ipswich.

Ms Boekel said showers and storms were forecast across the southeast, developing late in the morning and moving into the afternoon.

She said it was a return to a more normal storm situation and would not be as intense or as widespread as Thursday.

“It doesn’t take a severe storm to see some heavier impacts,” she said.

“This isn’t a typical situation.

“We’ve seen a whole week of flooding and our catchments are saturated … so they don’t need to be severe for us to see impacts across the southeast.”

Ms Boekel said the Ipswich River had stabilised, but should start dropping and the Brisbane River was seeing a “decreasing trend” around high tides.

She said some western towns, particularly St George, was seeing some river rises.

Meanwhile, March temperature records were being broken in northern parts of the state.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said there had now been 10 recorded deaths from the weather event.

Ms Carroll said seven people had been arrested for 18 looting-related offences and the maximum penalty was twice that of a normal stealing offence due to the seriousness of preying on vulnerable people during a disaster.

She again warned of the danger of possible for flash flooding from “any rain”.

“So over the next few days as the showers and storms and rain continues, please be aware of that flash flooding,” she said.

Anita Novin, Kavitha Bluett, Lanni Chia and Crystal mehrabi clean up a friends house in Graceville. Photo: Sarah Marshall

Mr Miles said the next phase of grants for small businesses and organisations would begin from Friday, joint funded by the state and Commonwealth governments.

“The package itself which we have asked for endorsement from the Commonwealth for is a $559 million assistance package targeting small business, primary producers, sporting organisations and supporting local government with their immediate response,” he said.

He said it was the biggest post-disaster small business support package since 2011.

It included grants of up to $75,000 for primary producers, including a $15,000 upfront payment, from a $32 million pool.

Local governments had also been allocated $1 million for each to help their immediate clean up.

Community and sporting organisations would be able to apply for grants of up to $20,000.

“This is the first round of this kind of assistance and we anticipate more may be required as we get a better sense of exactly what kind of damage businesses have suffered and how we can best support them through the recovery,” he said.

Local residents Drew Ellis, Luke Heseltine and Thomas Habel pictured cleaning up after the flooding in Windsor. (Image/Josh Woning)

The Premier said Treasurer Cameron Dick would assess budget impacts and that communities and public infrastructure would “get built back better”.

She said it was thankful that Queensland hadn’t seen a severe cyclone cross the coast this year.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Atmospheric Scientist Brooke Pagel said that we were likely to see more storms develop across the weekend, but they will be more like the storms we are used to seeing for this time of the year.

“We are still seeing the possibility of severe thunderstorms developing over southeast Queensland with heavy rain and winds, but the storms will not be as intense as we have seen recently,” Ms Pagel said.

“This is because the upper atmosphere has settled, so we are seeing milder conditions.”

Severe thunderstorm warnings are likely to be issued later in the day on Friday and the BOM advises people to continue to monitor updates.

“We are likely to see similar conditions over the weekend, so that will be a nice change and give people a bit of a break,” Ms Pagel said.

Flood warnings for across the southeast region are expected to remain current across the weekend.

It comes after the State Government yesterday ordered schools closed across South East Queensland., after warnings of severe weather over coming days

Parents were left confused about school pick-ups after mixed messages on social media.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urged all southeast Queenslanders to stay home on Friday, with schools open only for children of essential workers.

There are still more than 15,000 people affected by power outages, with 3000 still unplugged on Brisbane’s northside and the Sunshine Coast after severe storms early on Thursday.