BOM Severe Weather Update: Significant rain and flooding persist in SE Qld and NE NSW

Australian Community Media

Senior Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury provides an update on severe weather around Queensland and New South Wales. Vision courtesy: Bureau of Meteorology.

Transcript

00:00Heavy rain and significant flooding continue across southeast Queensland and northeast New

00:04South Wales after enormous rainfall amounts across southeast Queensland overnight in excess

00:10of 400 millimetres in some areas associated with the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

00:16Taking a look at some of those rainfall totals now, we had a widespread 200 millimetres plus

00:22across parts of far southeast Queensland including the Sunshine Coast, the Brisbane area,

00:26the Gold Coast and the Gold Coast hinterland. Some of those top totals seen in the 24 hours

00:32to 9 o'clock this morning include 433 millimetres at Diamond Valley, 410 at Wonga Wollon. Closer to

00:39Brisbane we saw 361 millimetres at Green Hill Reservoir and in Brisbane city itself we had

00:46275 millimetres in the rain gauge. This has produced widespread flash flooding across

00:52these areas and a real challenge for people to wake up to to start off their week.

00:58These heavy falls, these high rainfall totals were driven by bands of showers and thunderstorms

01:03moving through in the overnight period. Severe thunderstorm warnings were current for most of

01:08the night flagging where those most dangerous storms were bringing those intense falls.

01:13We did see rain and storms through parts of northeast New South Wales as well

01:16but rainfall totals were much lower compared to what we saw on the Queensland side of the border.

01:22Now those heaviest falls were brought about by the thunderstorms as I mentioned.

01:26They can be seen in this radar imagery as the yellow and orange colours and as we go through

01:31the rest of today and that heavy rainfall remains a risk you can check out the radar on the Bureau's

01:36website or via the BOM Weather app and pick those areas of heavy rainfall or storms for yourself

01:41as they move through in real time. For the rest of today though we do have that expectation of

01:47heavy rainfall continuing may tend locally intense in some areas. Our severe weather

01:53warning for heavy to locally intense rain does cover parts of the southeast coast district,

01:58southern parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett and parts of the Darling Downs and Granite

02:02Belts in Queensland. On the New South Wales side of the border mostly we're seeing that

02:06warning covering the northern tablelands and northwest slopes and plains. Most notably in

02:11this warning update from 11 o'clock eastern standard time much of the northern rivers

02:16and Gold Coast area have been removed from the warning. We may still see showers and isolated

02:22thunderstorms moving through during the course of today but they're unlikely to bring those very

02:27heavy rainfall totals. The area of intense rainfall is most likely across southeast inland

02:33Queensland. Those intense falls may at times impact places like Ipswich, Gatton and the

02:38Lockyer Valley through today. Intense rainfall totals mean six hourly rainfall totals of up to

02:44150 millimetres are possible. Compare that to the rest of our warning area where we're looking at

02:49six hourly rainfall totals of 60 to 100 millimetres. All that rain is coming on top of quite a few very

02:56wet days already. As a result we do still have widespread flood warnings and watches in place

03:03for much of southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales. Major flood warnings are still in

03:08place for the Logan and Albert Rivers, the Bremer River and Worrell Creek as well as for the

03:13Laidley Creek. Moderate flood warnings are in place for the Lockyer Valley and as you can see

03:17multiple other minor to moderate flood warnings are current for other catchments spilling down

03:23into northeast New South Wales as well. It's worth noting that we do still have flood

03:27watches in place for broader parts of southeast Queensland and northern inland New South Wales

03:34in the expectation of that focused rainfall starting to move away from the coast.

03:40So exactly how will it track through the course of today? During the rest of this morning and going

03:44into the early afternoon of course we may still see those heavy falls in the areas flagged by our

03:49severe weather warning. However as we go further through the afternoon and towards this evening

03:54we're going to see that heavy rainfall risk starting to ease along those southeast coastal

03:58parts. However it will continue across parts of southern inland Queensland and northern inland

04:04New South Wales. Now that's not to say those areas close to the coast won't see severe

04:08thunderstorms that may bring localized heavy falls, it will more be the widespread heavy

04:14rainfall that will start to ease back in those areas. As we go through this evening overnight

04:20and into tomorrow we're likely to see that trend continuing. The risk of heavy falls

04:24continuing across southern inland Queensland, parts of northern inland New South Wales as well

04:29and by the time we get to tomorrow we're looking at much patchier showers through much of southeast

04:33Queensland and northeast New South Wales. Locally heavy falls may still be a risk but broadly

04:40speaking the rainfall totals we're looking at come tomorrow are much lower through these areas than

04:45what we've seen over the weekend and what we're expecting today. Our rainfall accumulations for

04:52that period tell the same story. We're now seeing the highest rainfall accumulations indicated by

04:58the reds and purples in this graphic, starting to push inland from the coast across those areas

05:04away from the far southeast. Of course as you can see from this graphic widespread rain is still

05:10anticipated between now and tomorrow afternoon but it's less likely to bring those heavy falls back

05:15to that far southeast coast. We are still expecting a number of severe weather hazards to continue

05:22across this period. Of course flash flooding is always going to be a risk wherever we see heavy

05:26rainfall, whether it's just heavy or whether it gets to that intense level. That quickly moves

05:31over roads, walkways and other areas leading to very dangerous conditions to be out and about in.

05:37Riverine flooding as we've mentioned is also an ongoing concern. We're seeing many rivers

05:42continuing to respond in an upwards direction, continuing to rise with this rain that's moving

05:48through the catchments and riverine flooding is likely to persist through tomorrow and into the

05:53middle and later part of the week even as the rain starts to ease off. Finally we're seeing a

05:58lot of trees downed, debris across the roads and power outages thanks to this rainfall moving

06:04through. This is likely to continue for a few days depending on your area and it may also contribute

06:09to dangerous conditions out on the roads. You can always find the latest forecast and warning

06:15information via the Bureau's website and the BOM Weather app. Stay safe and we'll catch you in the next update.

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