Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley forecast to get more rain as councils start clean-up after flood event, quarantine hub could be used for victims

The clean-up has begun across the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley regions following a damaging flood event on the weekend. But that doesn’t mean the rain has gone away.

Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio says the council will explore all options to help fund the cost of rebuilding and repairing the region's infrastructure following the February 2022 flood event.

The Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley regions could be hit with more rain in the coming days, as each council counts the cost of the weekend’s flood damage and look to the state and federal governments for support.

Both regions have been greenlit for counter disaster operations and funding to rebuild public assets under the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.

Neither council region have been declared disaster areas at this point, which the QRA said was normally reserved for situations posing an immediate threat to the public.

It comes as the Bureau of Meteorology has predicted more rain for the Darling Downs later in the week, with both Toowoomba and Gatton given a slight chance of receiving up to 20mm across Thursday and Friday.

The rain is expected to hang around until Sunday at this point.

Lockyer Valley mayor Tanya Milligan confirmed her council had applied to the QRA for personal hardship assistance, which can supply affected residents with a variety of goods.

This could include clothing, household goods, food, medical supplies and repairs to homes.

Toowoomba mayor Paul Antonio said the council’s executive team was currently assessing the damage across the region and would make the necessary applications this week.

“We are certainly moving through that process and that’s a matter for our operational team,” he said.

Mr Antonio said he was currently in early discussions with the State Government about using the quarantine hub to house displaced residents from the Lockyer Valley, clarifying that the discussions were preliminary in nature.

Looking ahead, Mr Antonio said he would be asking questions of the council’s operational team on how the corner of Russell and Victoria Street in the CBD flooded again.

The notorious corner next to Rowes furniture store was completely submerged from the flooding on Friday.

It comes after more than $200m in flood mitigation works were invested into Toowoomba to prevent the CBD from flooding after 2011.

“We’ve got to have a really hard look at the corner of Russell and Victoria Street, he said.

“This is the second time we’ve had inundation, but it’s worthy of some further discussion.”

However, he said the flooding would’ve been more severe if not for the installation of detention basins like the asset built near the City Golf Club.

“It was a less severe event, but it was potentially something that would’ve been more severe for the CBD if we didn’t have the detention basins in place,” Mr Antonio said.