Annastacia Palas­zczuk puts Queensland on summer flooding alert

Queensland may face another summer of flooding, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

Queensland may face another summer of flooding, the Bureau of Meteorology has warned.

Premier Annastacia Palas­zczuk will convene a meeting of the state’s mayors this week to discuss preparations after cabinet was briefed by the BOM on Monday. “The good news is that we are not expecting a big bushfire season but we are expecting a wetter than normal spring,” she said.

“These conditions could be similar to the conditions we saw over the summer this year.”

February’s flood disaster killed 13 Queenslanders, damaged more than 9000 homes and cost the state $7.7bn in social and economic loss.

Such was the intensity of the rain and the saturation of catchments that storm drains were overwhelmed and “overland flows” cascaded through properties not known to have previously gone under. About 2000 homes, most in Brisbane, remain un­inhabitable five months after the deadly floods ravaged southeast Queensland.

BOM meteorologist Laura Boekel said because of an unseasonably wet winter, “we haven’t seen any of the ground dry up across most of Queensland. That means the soil still remains quite moist and we can see flooding because of that.

“We are gearing up for a season that could see quite a bit of flooding across Queensland. The BOM is in a La Nina watch, which means we are more likely to see a La Nina this summer.”

Ms Boekel said it was too early to say which parts of the state could see flooding.

“In terms of those communities specifically affected last year, we can’t pinpoint exactly where we would see events … just broadly that all of Queensland should be across the fact that we are expecting to see quite a bit of rainfall,” she said.

Ms Palaszczuk said people should brace for a “very wet spring leading into a wet summer. I don’t want Queenslanders to be alarmed but what I do want to see is people to be prepared. We will talk to all of the mayors just to make sure we’re very well prepared and to see how everyone is going with the implementation of the recommendations from the last flooding event.”

A probe into Queensland’s emergency alert systems, preparation and disaster response during the February floods is to be given to government shortly.