Flood warnings in place for south-east Queensland and parts of NSW

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Dozens of warnings and evacuation alerts remain in place across South-East Queensland and Northern New South Wales after record-breaking rain from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. With rivers continuing to swell, the major concern now is flooding.

Transcript

00:00Well, here in Brisbane, the rain has been non-stop for well over 24 hours now.

00:09It has been pretty much relentless at some stages.

00:11It was driving down in sheets, it was sideways, other times just a few spots around, but pretty

00:17much there's been no clear air at all.

00:20It has just been non-stop rain.

00:21So in fact, since 9 a.m. yesterday, Brisbane's recorded more than 275 millimeters of rain.

00:28And as a result of that, we have seen a lot of flash flooding.

00:32So this road behind me, Newmarket Road at Windsor, as you can see, two cars became trapped

00:38in those floodwaters.

00:40Now these waters have in fact receded somewhat, but we were here this morning when one driver

00:46drove into those floodwaters, managed to get out of their car and wade to safety, but they

00:51were in waist-deep water.

00:54Emergency crews then came to check they were okay and also to check the other car that

00:57we're told has been there since last night.

01:00Also a block behind me, we've got streets that are blocked, people trapped in their

01:04houses, creek beds completely overflowing, swamping not just the streets but also the

01:10nearby parks.

01:11They've pretty much turned into rivers as well.

01:14So as this is happening, so the danger certainly is not over yet.

01:17As that is happening, we're also seeing a lot of services resume today as normal.

01:23So supermarkets started to reopen yesterday.

01:25What we're seeing though is milk and bread absolutely flying off the shelves, so some

01:29shelves are empty.

01:31Schools are reopening, but we've still got quite a few hundred closed, so more than 700

01:35remain closed, so about 400 or so have reopened today.

01:39Those that are staying closed are as a result of power outages or storm damage or simply

01:43because it's too dangerous to get into those schools.

01:47And in Brisbane itself, we're seeing buses resume.

01:50At a limited timetable though, sticking to the Sunday timetable, and of course for some

01:55of those bus routes, they will be hampered by these floodwaters that we're seeing across

02:00Brisbane.

02:01So as the rain should ease during the day, we're still going to be seeing a lot of those

02:06floodwaters and dangers around.

02:09So as always, make sure you watch ABC and keep abreast of all those warnings on ABC

02:15local radio and of course all the emergency services as well.

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