Another day of drenching: Entire SEQ region on flood watch with one dead, one missing
One man is dead and another is missing as southeast Queensland braces for more intense rain and residents in the town of Dalby are told to prepare for flooding.
Average rainfall for the month of May was eclipsed in one day as rain, hail and flash flooding hit Queensland's south east overnight. Photo: ABC
An emergency alert has been issued for residents in low-lying areas of the town 200 kilometres west of Brisbane ahead of a major flood peak on Myall Creek.
The waterway is set to peak above 3.5m on Monday, which would close the Warrego Hwy at Charles Drew Bridge, with further rises possible into Tuesday.
“Residents with properties in low lying areas should warn their neighbours, secure their belongings and prepare to move to higher ground immediately,” a QFES statement said on Monday afternoon.
The warning follows the death of a man and five dogs killed when their ute was washed away at Kingsthorpe, northwest of Toowoomba on Monday morning.
Swiftwater crews rescued a woman who was also in the car, but the man and the dogs didn’t survive.
The pair were understood to be returning to NSW following a trip to North Queensland as part of a pet moving business.
A second man has been missing for more than eight hours after two vehicles tried to negotiate floodwater at a crossing at North Branch, south of Toowoomba.
A woman driving one of the cars was helped to safety by members of the public, but police say a man in his 40s got out of the second car before being swept away.
Police, swift water rescue crews and the RACQ Lifeflight Rescue helicopter are currently searching the area.
The Bureau of Meteorology has placed much of southern and southeast Queensland on flood watch as a coastal trough moves over the land on Monday.
Heavy rainfall is forecast for much of the region before the weather system moves south into NSW on Tuesday.
The deluge comes less than a month after record floods killed 13 people and damaged thousands of homes and business during the wettest February in 130 years.
The forecaster also warned of possible intense rainfall of up to 200mm, that could bring “dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding” in parts of the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Maroochydore, Caboolture, Coolangatta and Ipswich.
Seqwater has already started flood releases from the Somerset Dam and said it would release water from the downstream Wivenhoe Dam into the Brisbane River in the next six to 12 hours.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said there’s a risk of renewed flooding in low-lying parts of the city with the ground still saturated from the recent floods.
