Gold Coast Weather: Mount Tamborine Waterfall springs to life after big rainstorm

A Gold Coast Hinterland town was desperate for a drop of rain less than a month ago – now it’s faced dangerous flash flooding.

A GOLD Coast Hinterland town desperate for a drop of rain less than a month ago has faced dangerous flash flooding after copping a whopping downpour.

Mount Tamborine received 92mm of rainfall in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday and a further 124mm throughout the day, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

Curtis Rd at Eagle Heights was underwater yesterday afternoon, with water reaching the top of the tyres of cars senselessly tackling the fast-flowing torrent. A creek had overflowed and led to the flooding on Curtis Rd, which impacted businesses including Curtis Falls Bar & Grill.

Curtis Falls at Mount Tamborine was barely running before the wet weather set in, but it was a different story on Thursday. Picture: Jerad Williams

Curtis Falls itself was barely running in late January, but by yesterday afternoon the waterfall had sprung to life.

Granny Macs Store is located on Long Rd, on higher ground, and dodged the flooding. Employee Monika Jansen said it was rare to see such severe flash flooding in the area.

She said Curtis Rd only floods when it’s “bucketing down for days and days”.

“We’re (Mount Tamborine) pretty much swimming,” she laughed. “It has to rain non-stop, like it did (Wednesday) night and it has been raining for the last couple of days.

Floodwaters were running through Curtis Falls Bar & Grill at Mount Tamborine, but quickly receded yesterday afternoon. Picture: Jerad Williams

“The ground is now totally wet. It hasn’t stopped. A few weeks ago Curtis Falls was a trickle and now it’s raging.”

Ms Jansen said the floodwaters had been receding quite quickly. “Thankfully we’re fine, but Curtis Rd and Wongawallan Rd was flooded. People couldn’t come up (the mountain) or come down,” she said.

Mount Tamborine had received 383mm of rain this month by last night.