‘A month’s worth of rain’: Downpour sees Ekka events postponed

Brisbane received “a month’s worth of rain” in the day leading up to Wednesday’s Ekka public holiday, forcing show officials to cancel or postpone a number of People’s Day events for safety reasons.

The weather bureau’s Felim Hanniffy said across the week, Brisbane experienced the heaviest August rain since 2014.

“[The city received] 39 millimetres from 9am on Tuesday to 9am on Wednesday,” he said. “For most areas, August and September are drier – 33 millimetres is the August average.

RNA officials said large numbers of animals in the sodden Main Arena could damage the turf.

“We certainly saw a month’s worth of rain over the last 24 hours.”

The downpour meant a disappointing 35,000 people went through the Ekka gates on Wednesday – traditionally its busiest day. This was well down on last year’s more than 67,000 visitors.

The deluge also caused turf in the Ekka’s Main Arena to become sodden. Show officials feared the heavy traffic of “hundreds of animals” scheduled to appear on Wednesday could create uneven terrain for upcoming events.

Chief executive Brendan Christou said the RNA had made “the difficult decision” to reschedule the show’s piece de resistance, the Grand Parade.

“We know people will be disappointed as the parade is an iconic People’s Day tradition,” he said.

The parade will go ahead at lunchtime on Saturday instead.

Show-jumping classes also got cut from Wednesday’s line-up but would be rescheduled over the coming days.

The heavy rain has put a strain on Brisbane’s sewerage system, forcing Urban Utilities to release wastewater overflow into the Brisbane River on Wednesday, affecting an area between Vic Lucas Park at Bulimba and Colmslie Beach Reserve at Murarrie.

The wastewater infrastructure was already undergoing upgrades and had reduced water capacity, Urban Utilities spokeswoman, Michelle Cull, told 4BC radio.

She said people in the area should avoid activities such as swimming, watersports and boating in the river, and “wash any parts of your body that have come into contact with the water”.

On Wednesday night, Enoggera Dam started spilling, and there were still planned releases from Somerset Dam into Wivenhoe Dam, however the Seqwater Flood Centre was deactivated.

Conditions are expected to ease as the low-pressure system causing widespread rainfall along Australia’s east coast continues to move southward away from Brisbane.

Hanniffy said “the risk has already passed in terms of heavy falls”, and locals can expect “only a couple of millimetres if there are showers across the next few days”.

He added that the weekend would look particularly “more Ekka-like”, with 28 degrees forecast for Saturday and cool westerly winds beginning from Sunday.