Swathes of south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales were on alert for heavy rain and flash flooding as almost 290,000 properties were still without power on Sunday evening due to ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
After the former cyclone made landfall just north of Brisbane as a tropical low on Saturday night, the Bureau of Meteorology predicted up to 700mm of rain could hit the region through to Monday.
Conditions on Sunday forced evacuations in Hervey Bay, where a public safety declaration meant police had extra powers to carry out emergency operations. Almost 250mm of rain fell in a matter of hours, triggering flash flooding. Officers performed nine rescues from houses and seven from cars. An emergency alert was in place for the Fraser coast.
The bureau warned of swollen rivers and flash flooding, with more rain looming.
Speaking on Sunday afternoon, a meteorologist, Sue Oates, said the impact of ex-Cyclone Alfred had been “reduced to one hazard – and that’s the rainfall”.
Isolated rainfalls of between 200mm to 400mm were expected on Sunday, with another trough from central Australia dragging the low-pressure system inland over northern NSW.
Insurance customers have lodged about 3,000 claims over two days.
The Insurance Council of Australia chief executive, Andrew Hall, said it was too early to estimate the total insurance bill. “Insurers have received around 3,000 claims in the past two days and expect many more thousands of claims as residents return to their homes and understand the full extent of the damage,” he said.
As of Sunday afternoon 272,000 properties in south-east Queensland and 16,000 in NSW were without power. Energex said it had restored power to 40,000 properties in Queensland on Sunday.
Telstra reported 164 mobile sites remained down as of Sunday afternoon, as were 268 Optus mobile sites, and more than 250,000 NBN services were offline.
Air traffic over south-east Queensland and northern NSW resumed gradually on Sunday, with Brisbane and Gold Coast airports hosting a handful of passenger services.
Flash flooding was reported on Sunday in parts of Brisbane, where suburban creeks began to spill over after a night of heavy wind and rain. Enoggera Creek on the north side overflowed on Sunday morning, swallowing bridges and walkways.
Rain may begin to ease on Tuesday
SEQwater advised that two water treatment plants were out of action – one in Dayboro and one in Canungra – but both had full reservoirs, so they would be able to provide water to those communities while work went on to get the plants back online.
The company’s chief executive, Emma Thomas, said there were no plans to release water from the dam in Wivenhoe at this stage and residents downstream would be given as much possible notice if that were to change.
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On Sunday afternoon major flood warnings remained in place in Queensland for the Bremer and Logan rivers, and Warrill Creek. Rain lashed Wide Bay, Brisbane Metro and the Gold Coast hinterland.
In northern NSW, river levels in central Lismore that peaked at 9.31m on Saturday afternoon, below the height of the levee, continued to fall slowly on Sunday.
An evacuation warning for Lismore’s CBD lifted allowing people to cautiously return to their homes. But Major flood warnings remained in place on Sunday afternoon for the Richmond, Clarence and Orara rivers. All other rivers had been reduced to moderate or minor warnings.
Lismore’s deputy mayor, Jeri Hall, said about 600 people had sought shelter in evacuation centres.
Some residents have been without power and water for 72 hours.
Showers are not set to become isolated until Tuesday. But even after the rain does ease, flooding can continue for several days to come, the bureau has warned.
Twelve ADF soldiers remained in hospital on Sunday evening, two in a serious condition, after a crash on Saturday involving two military trucks near Lismore. Each truck was carrying 16 soldiers.
The first truck rolled, then the second did the same as it swerved in an attempt to avoid the first, officials said.
Of the 32 Brisbane-based soldiers onboard, 13 were injured.
– with AAP
