Intense rainfall and severe storms for country's north

Australian Community Media

Up to 160mm in six hours to fall around the northern rivers, NSW, causing flash flooding.

Transcript

00:00 Intense rainfall and severe thunderstorms have lashed parts of northeast NSW and southeast

00:05 Qld overnight, and are expected to continue today, so let's take a look at the latest.

00:11 Severe weather warnings are current for parts of the northern rivers of NSW and the southeast

00:15 Qld coast.

00:17 In these areas we could see heavy rainfall, with six hourly rainfall totals reaching as

00:21 much as 160 mm.

00:24 Now our waterways and infrastructure aren't built to withstand such a large amount of

00:28 rain over such a short period of time, and as a result flash flooding is also a risk

00:33 in these parts, as well as the other hazards that we associate with flooding, such as landslips

00:38 and adverse driving conditions.

00:41 It should also be noted that across the Qld side of the border, locally intense rainfall

00:46 is a risk, with six hourly rainfall totals potentially reaching as much as 250 mm.

00:52 This locally intense rainfall is most likely with thunderstorms through the day today,

00:56 and potentially could lead to life-threatening flash flooding.

01:00 If you or someone you know is living in or travelling through these areas today, it is

01:05 essential to stay on top of the warnings which will be updated regularly through the day,

01:09 and also check in with your local emergency services to keep as safe as possible.

01:13 We've already seen a lot of rainfall in these areas, in the overnight period many gauges

01:18 reaching 200-300 mm.

01:21 Several locations exceeded 300 mm, including Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland,

01:28 and Limpinwood across the border in NSW, and it's still raining in these parts.

01:33 Our radar from the last few hours shows those rain areas moving in off the ocean, with a

01:37 few yellow cells that you can see here, with the potential to become thunderstorms over

01:43 the next few hours.

01:45 If any storms do become severe today, we may be issuing severe thunderstorm warnings on

01:50 top of the severe weather warnings that's already current.

01:54 Taking a look at the rest of today, easterly flow will continue to bring a lot of moisture

01:59 onshore, feeding into those rain areas, showers and thunderstorms about the southeast Queensland/northeast

02:05 NSW border area.

02:07 But it's not just those parts which will see the wet weather.

02:11 If I zoom out a little, we can see the showers and storms impacting much broader areas of

02:16 eastern Queensland, northeast NSW and even extending to some of those inland districts

02:21 as well, although with much less rainfall on the way.

02:25 That's reflected in our thunderstorm forecast for today, which shows much broader areas

02:30 in green, indicating possible thunderstorms.

02:33 Our severe thunderstorms are most likely through eastern Queensland and about the Queensland/NSW

02:39 border, with our focal point really being those coastal border areas which may see the

02:45 extremely high rainfall rates.

02:49 The risk of this rainfall is triggering flood watches across central and southeast Queensland

02:54 and northeast NSW, with a minor flood warning already in place for the Tweed River in NSW.

03:01 Now over the next few days, as river rises continue, some of these flood watches may

03:05 be upgraded into flood warnings, and you can find any updates via the Bureau's website.

03:11 Coming into Tuesday, the risk of heavy falls about that border area will continue through

03:15 the morning, but through the later part of the day it should start to become patchier,

03:20 with the risk starting to ease off.

03:22 However, moisture in general is moving south into southern NSW and Victoria, with the risk

03:29 of severe storms and heavy falls picking up through Tuesday and continuing through into

03:34 the middle of the week.

03:37 This situation continues to be dangerous and dynamic, but you can find all the updates

03:42 to your forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website and the BOM social media.

03:46 Stay safe, and we'll catch you in the next update.

03:48 [Music]

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