Seven lives lost as ‘rains bomb’ lashes Queensland

Queensland’s catastrophic floods have killed at least seven people with more feared dead as a ‘rain bomb’ continues to unleash on the state’s southeast.

Queensland’s catastrophic floods have killed at least seven people with more feared dead as a “rain bomb” continues to unleash on the state’s southeast.

There have been deaths in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Gympie and Ipswich and another man is still missing after he fell into the Brisbane River two days ago at Bulimba.

Another man is missing in northern NSW as the rain system begins to creep south. He was last seen at Lismore and police believe he may have been dragged down a drain.

The body of a 34-year-old man, whose car was swallowed by rising flood waters at Indooroopilly in Brisbane’s west, was found on Sunday morning. Police said he managed to free himself from the sinking car and began to swim to safety, but nearby residents raised the alarm when he failed to surface. His body was recovered a short time later.

Another man, 55, was found in floodwaters in the inner suburb of Stones Corner on Saturday.

State Emergency Services volunteer Merryl Dray, 62, died on Friday when her car was swept away as she tried to help a family escape floodwaters at Coolana, west of Brisbane.

Further north, police divers found the body of a 37-year-old man who disappeared in floodwaters near Gympie, north of the Sunshine Coast on Saturday.

Philip Gary Lambert, 54, died while trying to ride a motorbike through rising water at Gympie last week on his way home from work. Mr Lambert’s death followed the discovery of a 63-year-old woman’s body in a submerged car on the Sunshine Coast on Wednesday.

A man was pulled alive from the Brisbane River at Howard Smith Wharves on Sunday after his house boat crashed into a pontoon on the other side of the river.

He is one of many who have been rescued from floodwaters with residents in Brisbane’s inner-city suburbs fleeing their homes on surfboards and in kayaks.

Thousands more people are trapped in the city’s high-rise apartment buildings, waiting for waters to subside.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pleaded with parents to keep their children out of floodwaters and warned motorists to stay off the roads. “I don’t want to see any more deaths,” she said.

The Brisbane River was first thought to peak at 2.7m but on Sunday reached 3.1m; the 2011 floods peaked at 4.46m.

“It’s filling up all of our catchments, all of our rivers and it’s all coming into the Brisbane River,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

The river is expected to remain high until Wednesday.