Women rescued from floodwater as deluge continues

Two people have been rescued from floodwater after a rain-hit state was again struck by storms before the festive season.

The women were found in the tray of a ute after a swiftwater rescue team was called to Euthulla, about 450 kilometres northwest of Brisbane, on Tuesday night.

The SES has responded to almost 200 callouts across Queensland since Tuesday morning, mostly for leaking roofs, sandbagging and fallen trees after the latest round of wet weather.

“The ground is really quite wet at the moment, so it doesn’t take too much for some of those trees to decide that they’d rather lay down than stand up,” SES operations director Glenn Alderton told ABC Radio.

More than 300 properties were without power on Wednesday, with thousands at one stage affected mostly across the Gladstone and Sunshine Coast region north of Brisbane.

A wet week lies ahead for the not-so-Sunshine State, with experts warning a tropical low might form.

But there was a low chance it would develop into the season’s first tropical cyclone, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

The state’s south-east copped the brunt of heavy showers from Monday night, with more to come.

More than 127 millimetres of rain fell in Brisbane, causing flooding.

No relief was in sight yet, with showers and storms set to hit Queensland’s east coast on Wednesday.

“Most likely from Townsville down to Brisbane where severe thunderstorms are possible,” the bureau’s Angus Hines said.

Flooding at Wolverhampton Bridge at Kedron Brook on Tuesday.Credit: Anna Campbell

The bureau was also keeping an eye further north with a tropical low a chance of forming around the Gulf of Carpentaria, bringing yet more rain.

Models had it tracking across the coast near Coen and moving away between Cairns and Townsville into the Coral Sea by the weekend.

“It’s a low chance of developing into a tropical cyclone from Friday,” a bureau spokesman said.

“But most models don’t see it developing. They keep it as a weak low-pressure system even as it moves off the coast.”

The predicted low was set to move away from the north Queensland coast, taking the rain with it.

“So we should see a lot less rainfall by Tuesday next week. It’s a brief boost of monsoon-like conditions,” the spokesman said.

Queensland has already copped a drenching, with showers continuing on Tuesday.

Brisbane City, Ipswich, Somerset, Lockyer Valley and Moreton Bay were hit with a sweeping storm about 2am on Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and causing flooding.

Roads were cut off, with the State Emergency Service receiving almost 80 calls for help from midday on Monday.

Almost 20 dams across the south-east were spilling on Tuesday, with the region’s biggest Wivenhoe beginning releases for what was believed to be the first time in two years.

AAP

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