Life-threatening rain swamps SEQ
QUEENSLAND’S wild weather was described as a “life threatening event” on Friday as many regions were hit with further downpours.
It followed heavy rain on Thursday night, with Queenslanders waking to the aftermath of another torrential downpour that has so far claimed two lives in Queensland and one in NSW.
Police confirmed a man, from Gympie, north of the Sunshine Coast, died in floodwaters while trying to ride his motorcycle home from work at 1am on Wednesday. And Philippa Tayler, 63, from the Sunshine Coast, died after her car became stuck in floodwater early on Wednesday morning.
In NSW a man died after his vehicle entered floodwater on the Central Coast just after midnight on Thursday.
The 54-year-old’s body was found in a Toyota LandCruiser in floodwater near the Maddens Creek crossing, about 1.30am.
Queensland police deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski said further rain was expected.
“On top of the significant rain we’ve already seen we have soaked waterways and ground so that means we’re going to see lots of run-off so we can expect more flash flooding and we are planning to deal with riverine flooding particularly in the Mary river,” he said. “We are expecting inundation of some properties in the Gympie area.”
Mr Gollschewski said it remained to be seen just how bad the damage would get.
“Around Jimboomba … up to 118mm is the prediction but what we’re seeing is very intense falls in particular areas,” he said.
Flash flooding warnings were issued for Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley just before noon. Between 7.30am and 10.30am, Upper Lockyer recorded 105mm of rain.
The Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay areas faced the worst of the weather, with 423mm of rain falling in the six hours to 4.30am in Biggenden, inland from Fraser Island.
However, the town was far from alone with 315mm falling north at Fig Tree, 289mm at Paradise Dam and 241mm at Fred Haigh Dam.
The Wide Bay and Burnett, Southeast Coast, parts of Darling Downs and Granite Belt forecast districts were all affected.
In NSW, Sydneysiders dealt with some showers and a muggy thunderstorm on Friday as the city’s mercury sticks at a warm 27C.
Up to 15mm of rain was expected on Friday, 30mm on Saturday and up to 25mm on Sunday.
The state’s north fared worse, however, with Lismore and Northern Rivers surrounds expecting up to 80mm on Friday.
It comes after a week of weather chaos across both states that drew comparisons to the tragic 2011 floods in Queensland that killed 33 people.
Sky News meteorologist Rob Sharpe said the sheer amount of rain falling had the power to claim more lives.
“It won’t just be heavy rain, at times we’re talking about intense rainfall with potential for totals of over 300mm in a six-hour period, causing life threatening flash flooding,” he said.
“This could easily be on par with the 2011 floods.”