Queensland fire crews rescue 16 people after 450mm downpour
A cold front targeting four eastern states follows a week of extreme rainfall that overwhelmed the state's emergency services.
By Thomas Obasi ·
Emergency crews in Queensland extracted 16 people from floodwaters during a week of record-breaking rain, just hours before a new storm system targeted the eastern seaboard. The State Emergency Service reported hundreds of calls for assistance as torrential rain hit the state earlier this week.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued severe thunderstorm warnings for South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania. The agency also maintained nine active flood warnings for southern Queensland. Senior meteorologist David Crock noted that the weather pattern is highly unusual for late October.
"There's plenty of rain across the south-east, as well as plenty of showers and storms and rain across much of Queensland as well, after what's already been a really wet week," Crock said. He added that the conditions resemble typical January or February weather rather than the current season.
The heaviest rainfall occurred on Thursday, when storms stretched from Caboolture south to the Border Ranges. Some locations recorded more than 200 millimetres of rain in a single day. This intense precipitation triggered flash flooding and forced several schools to close on Friday.
Specific areas in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands and Caboolture recorded seven-day totals between 300 and 400 millimetres, with some spots reaching 450 millimetres. Crock attributed the high totals to a persistent weather system that pulled in large amounts of moisture over a period of seven to 10 days.
The new cold front is scheduled to cross New South Wales on Sunday. It will bring severe thunderstorms to the western part of the state, north-eastern Victoria, Sydney, and Brisbane. The meteorologist stated that severe storms are likely across a wide section of inland eastern Australia.
In one rescue operation, fire department crews used a raft to reach an elderly man clinging to his vehicle's roof in Caboolture. The agency completed more than 16 such swift-water rescues during the week.
