‘A month’s worth of rainfall’: QLD’s lockdown deluge sees tops of 250mm in one day

Queenslanders should brace themselves for a wet lockdown as heavy rainfall is expected across the southeast over the next three days with some areas seeing tops of 250mm in just a day.

Lockdown won’t be the only thing keeping Queenslanders inside for the rest of the week.

A heavy deluge is expected across the next few days as a predicted month’s worth of rainfall bears down on southeast Queensland.

The first night of the southeast lockdown deluge began with the Sunshine Coast copping falls above 70mm in a 24-hour period.

Maroochydore was hit the hardest with 77mm of rain falling at Picnic Point, 69mm at Maroochydore depot and 57mm at Bli Bli.

Brisbane was left with falls between 1-5mm but the rain made its way to the Gold Coast with Monterey Keys recording 57mm, Coomera 41mm and Upper Springbrook 25mm.

Meanwhile there were some massive downpours in North Queensland with Bulgun Creek, north west of Tully, recording 257mm of rain in a 24 hour period.

We've got rain on the brain as onshore showers bring the last of the official 'June' falls to the coast (9am-9am). A trough from the west will bring showers, storms & rain to central & eastern QLD from Thurs, shaking up the current #QldWeather pattern. https://t.co/PM6pw8KPZh pic.twitter.com/pXLHgYh7mG

— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) June 30, 2021

Tully recorded 161mm of rain and north of Innisfail at the Boulders recorded 138mm.

Up to 300 millimetres is still expected as a low-pressure trough from the western side of the state pushes moisture not just over inland areas but to the coast, linking up with showers in the state’s southeast to bring the rainfall.

Sky News Weather meteorologist Rob Sharpe said they have started to see some wet weather along the east coast but “there’s a lot more to come and it’s not just for coastal areas”.

“We’re going to see substantial falls, many areas of southeastern Queensland are looking at comfortably more than a month’s worth of rainfall from this event,” Mr Sharpe said.

“Some of the drought-affected areas could even see double that July average just in this one event.”

Parts of Queensland and northern NSW could see a months rain in just a few days this week. Picture: Sky News Weather

Around 25-50mm will be standard for many parts of Queensland, but more than 100mm is a possibility in isolated patches.

“And if that happens in the Wide Bay-Burnett region or over inland areas, that would be phenomenal for those drought-affected regions,” Mr Sharpe said.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, there remains an 95% of rainfall across the next three days of lockdown with a combined maximum rainfall of 44mm.

Temperatures are set to hit 20C with 14C lows.

Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast could see up to 35mm on Friday and 30mm on Sunday.

Parts of Queensland and northern NSW could see a months rain in just a few days this week. Picture: Sky News Weather

Originally published as ‘A month’s worth of rainfall’: QLD’s lockdown deluge sees tops of 250mm in one day