‘F***ing insane, we’re totally blocked off’: Wild footage captures town swamped by floodwaters in ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s path of destruction
Residents in one Aussie town caught in ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s path of destruction have been left “totally blocked off” by raging floodwaters.
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An entire Queensland town has been “totally blocked off” by raging floodwaters in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, as the downgraded system continues to wreak havoc across the east coast.
In several videos posted on Facebook, North Maleny resident Bret Wills captured floodwaters inundating the streets of Nambour, on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane.
The footage shows Mr Wills stopping his car and capturing the deluge, remarking everyone was “stuck” and there was no travelling through the floodways.
“There you have it – that is f**ing insane, we’re totally blocked off from every direction,” he remarks in one clip.
That same video captures a raging torrent down one of Nambour’s streets.
Another appears to capture the main street of Nambour – containing multiple businesses – completely flooded.
“That’s full on,” Mr Wills continues.
Alfred was downgraded to a tropical low as it approached the mainland on Saturday but has still caused significant damage, with fierce winds ripping up homes and trees and heavy rainfall causing dangerous flash flooding across southeast Queensland and northern NSW.
The Sunshine Coast locality was pounded with 267mm of rain in the past 12 hours in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s path of destruction.
Sunshine Coast Council Local Disaster Management Group Coordinator Bill Haddrill said intense rainfall was recorded over the hinterland region – including 393mm falling in Diamond Valley.
Woombye was hit with 303mm, Mooloolah Valley 296mm, Palmwood 284 and Maleny 224mm.
“There are flood warnings in place with the eastern side of the Hinterland experiencing localised flooding affecting Nambour, Palmwoods and Eudlo area particularly, with the potential for it to strengthen to moderate flood warnings,“ Mr Haddrill said.
“Currently there are 48 roads across our region that are impacted and we can expect more to be affected as conditions can change rapidly with more rain predicted for today.”
On the Gold Coast, multiple warnings have been issued after the city copped the brunt of Alfred’s approach.
It is now considered too dangerous to leave Luscombe, Yatala, Stapylton and Gilberton.
An emergency flood warning has been issued for Currumbin, Currumbin Valley, Tallebudgera, Tallebudgera Valley and Elanora, with residents urged to “take action now”.
Watch and act flood alerts have been issued for Carrara, Benowa, Emerald Lakes, Clear Island Waters, Mermaid Waters and Merrima, while residents in Arundel, Biggera Waters and Labrador have been advised to prepare now for flooding.
“Residents and visitors are warned there is heavy to locally intense rainfall expected to continue today which may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding,” a Gold Coast Council spokeswoman said.
“Heavy to locally intense rainfall is expected to continue today with the risk of intense rainfall expected to ease this morning. The City continues to monitor the situation as it changes.
In the six hours to 10.40pm on Sunday, 178mm was recorded at Wongawallan and 154mm was recorded at the Oxenford Weir.
More than 67,000 properties on the Gold Coast remain without power – down from more than 140,000 on Saturday.
Premier’s warning
On Monday, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said disaster declarations had been made in a number of areas – including Toowoomba, Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley region.
He said the last region was of serious concern due to the large storm cell moving through the region.
“Emergency alerts were issued and we are maintaining that connection in that area,” he said.
Swiftwater rescues and doorknocking took place in the region overnight.
Major flood warnings for the Bremer River and Warrill Creek in Ipswich remain in place.
Mr Crisafulli said the response to the weather system was a “developing situation” and urged people to keep their evacuation plans in place – revealing there had been 3676 calls for help received by the SES in the past 24 hours.
“That is the largest (in a) 24-hour period in Queensland’s state emergency service,” he said.
Mr Crisafulli said there were a number of challenges in the government’s response, including reconnecting electricity to over 200,000 without power.
Energex has reconnected about 140,000 Queensland homes and businesses over the last 24 hours.
In Hervey Bay, SES and Queensland Fire crews were on the ground conducting damage assessments after the Fraser Coast region was swamped with “significant” amounts of rainfall.
“We as yet don’t know the scale of the damage, but we have intel on the ground to suggest it is significant,” Mr Crisafulli said.
The region could experience issues with food supplies after multiple shopping centres were flooded, he said.
Dutton ‘trapped’ by floodwaters
Peter Dutton has recounted his harrowing experience of being “trapped” in floodwaters brought on by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred as the system continues its path of destruction along the east coast.
The Opposition Leader said he and his family had been “awake all night waiting for a tree to land through the house because the winds were just phenomenal”.
The Opposition Leader has been weathering the fierce conditions at his family’s Brisbane home.
He said floodwaters had “trapped” them.
“There’s been a hell of a lot of rain overnight, so it was as predicted and it’s no less shocking than what we see in other parts of northern NSW and the Gold Coast … which have all received this downpour and hopefully it recedes quickly, but at the moment a few of us are trapped at home including ourselves,” Mr Dutton told Sky News.
“Fortunately our house is fine, but the water’s up over our front gate, so that’s the reality at the moment and the emergency service workers, the council workers are doing an amazing job, but a lot of families, a lot of businesses are really heavily impacted again this morning.”
He also defended attending a soiree hosted by billionaire Justin Hemmes last week as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred approached the east coast.
The “fundraising dinner” was held at the Merivale Group chief executive’s mansion in Sydney.
“It wasn’t a party, it was a fundraising dinner and the Prime Minister and I are doing them around the country at the moment,” Mr Dutton said.
“I’d received a briefing in the morning, went down, I had diary commitments including lunch with an archbishop and a number of meetings otherwise in Sydney.
“I flew home on the first flight on Wednesday morning back into my electorate and the event obviously hadn’t started by then, didn’t start until Friday, so I think people who are using that for political advantage in the time of a natural disaster, frankly that’s a poorer reflection on them than it is on me and I think people recognise that.”
Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese has vowed his government “will certainly hold the insurance companies to account” as property owners look to claim.
Insurers have drawn ire in recent years for being slow to process claims following major natural disasters.
“This is a time where they need to do a bit of repair of their relationships with the Australian public, by doing the right thing and making payments immediately for people who are eligible,” the Prime Minister told Seven on Monday.
“That’s what people who are eligible, that’s what people expect.”
Severe thunderstorm warning
“Very dangerous” thunderstorm warnings have been issued for parts of Queensland amid widespread flooding and power outages from the weakened system.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for residents in parts of the Moreton Bay, Brisbane City, Lockyer Valley, Ipswich, Somerset, and Toowoomba council areas on Monday morning.
The warning says the “very dangerous thunderstorms” were likely to produce intense rainfall that could lead to “dangerous and life-threatening” flash flooding.
The storms were detected near Laidley, Gatton, and Landsborough and were moving towards the south and southeast.
They were forecast to impact Grandchester, Hatton Vale, and Beerburrum by 7.25am and Caboolture by 7.55am local time, according to the bureau’s latest alert.
Emergency services are advising people to park their cars undercover and away from trees, close doors and windows, charge mobile phones and power banks in case of power outages, and remain inside a strong building until the storm has passed.
A separate severe weather warning for heavy rainfall and locally intense rainfall remains current over the southeast coast and parts of the Wide Bay, Burnett, and Darling Downs and Granite Belt regions.
Hundreds of thousands still without power
Energex reports the worst hit is in Brisbane, where 67,000 residents and businesses have been disconnected from power.
A further 43,000 in Brisbane City are in the dark, and 32,000 in Moreton Bay and Redland City Council are without power.
More than 128,000 customers have had their power restored as of Monday morning, Energex chief operations officer Paul Jordan told Sunrise.
“We have got around 2000 people on the response now – 800 of those are from outside the southeast, so they have left their families … (and) people responding in the southeast, some of them don’t have power, so we are giving it everything,” he said.
“We have teams out there assessing the damage, looking at the damage and we will have a better idea over the next couple of days about what that length of time will be.
“We’re giving it everything we possibly can.”
The most recent statement from Essential Energy said that between Tweed Heads to south of Grafton and west of Armidale, about 10,000 customers are without power.
“Once weather conditions allow, Essential Energy will focus on surveying damage via helicopters, allowing plans to be made on gaining access to cut off areas and dropping equipment and crews in to start repairs,” a statement read.
“Crews from throughout NSW arrived in the cyclone-impacted area yesterday, with more coming today to help local teams with the ongoing clean-up and repair work.
“Many of these people were involved in the 2022 northern NSW flood response and bring significant experience with working in challenging conditions.”
Emergency declaration after tree falls on gas cylinder
Police have issued an emergency declaration for residents of Clontarf in the Moreton Bay region after a gas leak caused by a fallen tree.
Officers were called to Robson St at about 6.20am local time on Monday after reports a tree had fallen onto a gas cylinder.
“An exclusion zone is in place and encompasses Robson St, Grice St and Duffield Rd,” a Queensland Police Service statement read.
“Motorists and residents are advised to avoid the area.”
Storm-battered regions bracing for ‘very, very heavy’ rains
Bureau senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury told the ABC that widespread rainfall totals of 200mm or more had been recorded since 9am on Sunday.
In other parts of the Brisbane City and Gold Coast areas, up to 400mm of rain was recorded overnight.
Widespread falls were also recorded in Diamond Valley, with 410mm of rain recorded since 9am Sunday, and 312mm in Nambour.
“That’s come through in several bursts of very, very heavy rainfall associated with very dangerous thunderstorms,” Ms Bradbury said.
Thunderstorm warnings remain current for residents near Caboolture as the rainfall and destructive winds move south towards Brisbane.
“We’re likely to see another burst of that heavy rain coming through in the next couple of hours,” Ms Bradbury said.
Residents in the majority of the southeast coast of Queensland, Wide Bay, Burnett, the Darling Downs and Granite Belt can expect locally intense rainfall.
Emergency alerts issued across southeast Qld, northern NSW
Thousands of residents across northern NSW are under emergency warnings, with about 1800 isolated as evacuation routes have been cut.
Emergency alerts have been issued for numerous areas across southeast Queensland including Laidley, Tamborine, Cedar Creek, Beenleigh, and the areas surrounding Oxley Creek and Western Creek.
An emergency ‘flood watch and act’ alert was issued for the Sunshine Coast after 7am local time.
Residents in the area are being urged to not drive unless necessary and move to higher ground away from floodwaters as intense rainfall lashes the Sunshine Coast.
Gold Coast City Council has also sent out a ‘watch and act’ warning for residents to prepare now moderate to major flooding across the region ahead of anticipated heavy rainfall.
Major flood warnings issued for the Logan, Bremer and Albert rivers and Warril and Laidley creeks remain in place on Monday as further rainfall is forecast to smash the area.
There is also a moderate flood warning in place for Lockyer River.
Overnight, significant flooding was reported on the Clarence River, along the Tweed Valley and the Richmond River, with many areas already too flooded for residents to escape.
With more rainfall expected to continue on Monday, residents who evacuated their homes in Tumbulgum have been advised to stay away until the flood waters recede.
Residents in Laidley from the Lockyer region was ordered to take shelter on Sunday evening.
Emergency warnings have been put in place for those living on Carrs Island, Grafton, and downstream on Harwood, Chatworth, Warregah and Goodwood Islands, who have been ordered by the SES to stay “isolated until floodwaters recede”.
‘Relief’ after ADF crash
All but one of the 13 ADF personnel injured in incidents involving two Army trucks have been released from hospital, Richard Marles has said.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the soldier remaining in hospital was “stable” and that he was relieved “our worst fears” did not manifest.
“All but one has been released, so that’s good news,” he told the ABC.
“And the one person who is still in hospital is in a stable condition, not a life threatening injury, and is expected to recover.
“So, broadly, this is good news for those personnel who were part of the accident that occurred on Saturday.
“So that is, that is a relief. Although our thoughts are still with that person who’s in hospital.”
Thirty-two soldiers were involved in the incidents.
They were deployed from Brisbane’s Gallipoli Barracks to the Lismore area in northern NSW and were working to clear roadways when their trucks rolled.
Six personnel were seriously injured.
‘Put your safety first’: Premier’s message to Queenslanders
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has urged residents to stay inside as heavy rainfall and destructive winds from the ex-cyclone are forecast to continue stripping parts of southeast Queensland and inland northern NSW.
“We do have a bit of rain left to go,” he told the ABC on Monday morning.
“You must always put your safety first. That’s number one in a disaster.
“Property can be replaced, people can’t.”
Overnight, the Queensland government announced further school closures across parts of the state as conditions made it unsafe to attend on Monday morning.
Currently, 434 state school have closed their gates, with 170 independent schools and 89 Catholic schools also temporarily closing until conditions improve.
Clean-up process to begin in NSW
While the conditions are starting to improve in parts of NSW, NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Sean Kearn said the clean-up efforts were starting to proceed.
“We’re very glad to see some warnings reduced over the weekend, allowing some residents to return with caution in parts of Lismore, Kyogle, Wiangaree, Arrawarra Beach, Darlington Beach and other locations as conditions have eased,” Commissioner Karn said.
“However, we’re not out the woods just yet, major flooding and isolations are still occurring across many communities, and the predicted risk of heavy rain to continue throughout Monday and possibly into Tuesday will only exacerbate this risk.
“We may see renewed river rises, but we’re hoping we have seen the worst of the rain from this event.
“As conditions improve, NSW SES will be working with communities throughout the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast to ensure residents are able to return safely where possible.
“Our volunteers will be out in force on Monday cleaning up residual storm and tree jobs and continuing damage assessments.”
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