Sunshine Coast counts the cost
Torrential rain leaves four people dead and postpones a league test.
SOUTHEAST QUEENSLAND is counting mopping up after four people died in floodwaters as the region reeled from a rainfall event described as ‘‘off the scale’’.
A man in his 70s, a woman in her 30s and an 8-year-old boy were pronounced dead after their car was swamped at Caboolture.
Just three hours later, a 75-yearold man was swept to his death when his vehicle was inundated by fast-moving waters at Morayfield Road, Burpengary.
Swift water rescue crews managed to save a 68- year- old woman who survived by clinging to a tree.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed the deaths at a media conference.
‘‘On behalf of all Queenslanders, we express our deepest sympathies . . . this is a tragedy and it’s not an easy thing to talk about,’’ she said. ‘‘We are deeply saddened by this tragic loss of life.’’
Palaszczuk said Caboolture had been particularly swamped by a low-pressure system that caused widespread flash flooding and commuter chaos throughout Friday.
‘‘There has been more than 333 millimetres of rainfall, in the afternoon in just a three hour period there was 277 millimetres,’’ she said.
‘‘ Having just spoken to the Bureau of Meteorology, for them, this is off the scale.’’
Palaszczuk said Gold Coast beaches would be closed, and called on people to stay at home and off the roads where possible.
‘‘ The SES has recorded some 1400 incidents over the course of the day, and these include issues such as people being stranded in cars, people being on the rooftop of their cars.
‘‘ This has been weather event.’’
A girl was reportedly struck by lightning, close to a dozen motorists were rescued from floodwaters, and afternoon
an
extreme commutes were thrown into chaos as rain lashed south-east Queensland.
The Friday night rugby league test at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium was postponed to Sunday.
The Caboolture area was
the hardest hit as slow-moving, highly concentrated storm cells dumped more than 300mm of rain in a few hours.
Those heading home to the Sunshine Coast suffered particularly as major roads were under water. The Bruce Highway was cut both ways at Burpengary just as peak hour approached, while water and debris at Elimbah and Griffin also caused major delays.
At the same time, the southeast’s public transport network was thrown into chaos with trains suspended on the Caboolture, Sunshine Coast, Airport, Doomben and Shorncliffe lines.
Emergency services were frustrated as motorists ignored constant pleas to stay away from flooded areas.
Swift water rescue crews pulled seven people from floodwaters in one incident north of Brisbane.
Flights in and out of the Gold Coast were cancelled, and there were sizeable delays at Brisbane Airport.
The three- day Urban Country Music Festival at Caboolture had to be cancelled, along with farmers’ markets.
The highest rainfall recorded was 327mm at Caboolture, while Maroochydore copped a wind gust of 81km/ h and Cape Moreton recorded 109km/h.
Dam operator Seqwater says water releases from Wivenhoe and North Pine dams were likely on Friday night or Saturday morning.