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