A flood watch is in place for most of Queensland as rainfall continues to blanket Brisbane on Monday following a drenching triggered by a low-pressure system travelling south.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Helen Reid warned Monday would be another wet day after the city’s northern suburbs recorded up to 70 millimetres of rainfall overnight, slightly higher than the 40 to 50 millimetres on the southside.
The meteorologist said the persistent rain prompted flood-watch warnings for rivers across the south-east on Monday.
“So that’s the Logan Albert, the Lower Brisbane, the Pine and Caboolture, Sunshine Coast rivers and creeks,” Reid said.
“They’re all in flood watch.”
A moderate flood warning was in place for the Upper Brisbane River and Stanley River, and river levels at Gregor Creek and Woodford were being monitored.
The warning for the Burnett River in the South Burnett region has been upgraded to a major flood warning. Major flooding is now expected to occur at Dunollie and Brian Pastures, and is possible at Mundubbera, Gayndah, Stonelands and Walla.
Rainfall in the Burnett reached almost 250 millimetres in some areas and some areas had more than 100 millimetres recorded in just six hours overnight.
The highest rainfall recorded in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday was 245 millimetres at Brovinia, followed by 221 millimetres at Ban Ban. Both are in the Burnett.
Further west, rainfall at Miles exceeded 200 millimetres since Saturday morning. Even further out, a major flood warning is now in place for the Warrego River. Flooding is expected to occur at Augathella progressively over the next two days, and may exceed the major flood level by Wednesday.
“It’s just flood watch at the moment through the Brisbane region,” the meteorologist said.
The weather bureau was expecting 30 to 40 millimetres of rain on Monday, before showers were forecast to ease on Tuesday.
“Today’s the last day of the higher rainfall totals,” Reid said.
“We’ll still get some showers coming through tomorrow, but it’ll be just like nuisance factor in comparison. Just a couple of millimetres and then not looking like anything else other than just the occasional shower.
“The trough line and the upper atmosphere will be shifting over towards offshore, and that’ll mean that’ll take the rainfall with it, so we’ll just have a couple of showers just drifting in from the coastline a little bit more in a regular fashion.”
The south-east then would be expected to be largely dry before showers were forecast to return by the weekend.
“Nothing as wet as what we’ve got at the moment,” Reid said.
The Sunshine Coast experienced greater rainfall, with about 100 millimetres in the past 24 hours. More than 30 roads in the region were closed.
There were several rescues from floodwater overnight in areas including South Burnett, Leafdale, Murgon, Gympie and Chinchilla.
A boy and an adult were pulled from a car in floodwaters along The Causeway at Kelly’s Beach in Bargara about 7.40am. They were uninjured.
A woman was also rescued from the roof of her car after she was swept away in floodwater on Bald Knob Road in Peachester.
“[She] ended up with her car going into the floodwater,” swift water rescue crew member Matthew Bruce said.
“Did the right thing, wound down the windows, got herself out when her car became flooded and then was swept off the causeway and she managed to get herself onto the roof of the car and call Triple Zero.
“We really urge all people on the road to take extra care. Remember the old adage: ‘if it’s flooded, forget it’. It’s much safer to turn around.”
Premier David Crisafulli said he was grateful for the safety of all those who required assistance overnight, and urged people to act carefully.
“People should know the impact it puts on their own family … but also think about it through the eyes of those emergency services personnel,” he said.
“They’ve got loved ones too, and anything you can do to stay out of harm’s way helps everyone.”
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