Schools across south-east Queensland will be closed on Monday and people have been urged to work from home as severe flooding shows no signs of easing across the region.
While rain is expected to ease over the next 24 hours, some 118 state schools have been closed across south-east Queensland due to the unpredictable nature of the event.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the emergency situation would likely continue for the next three days.
“We never expected this rain. This rain bomb is just really, you know, it’s unrelenting,” she said.
“It’s just coming down in buckets, it’s not like a waterfall. It’s like wavesxjmtzyw of water just coming down.”
Earlier Ms Palaszczuk shrugged off a journalist’s bruising question about the level of preparation for the state’s disastrous flood event, saying “we don’t control nature”.
People have been urged to stay home amid the “unrelenting” weather disaster, with floodwaters claiming the lives of six Queenslanders.
Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner was caught off guard during Sunday’s press conference after a journalist said people were “sitting ducks” amid the lack of warning.
“How come we weren’t warned to take our things, put them into higher ground?” the reporter asked.
“What are we doing? Are we packing up and moving to higher ground, are we evacuating or are we staying home like we did during the pandemic and waiting (to be rescued)?”
Mr Schrinner said the rain event was a “rapidly evolving situation” and the advice was changing hour-to-hour.
Ms Palaszczuk insisted they did “not control nature” and events like this were beyond control.
“When Cyclone Debbie crossed the coast, we didn’t know it was going to come all the way down to the southeast,” she said.
“These are events beyond our control, but as information comes to hand we get that information out.
“The Lord Mayor and I are working very close together… we are keeping the public involved as much as we can.”
Ms Palaszczuk said the weather appeared to be easing in the Sunshine Coast and Gympie regions but urged people not to travel.
“If you don’t have to be on the roads, please do not be,” she said.
“This water is unrelenting at the moment,” she said.
“There’s a rain bomb sitting on the entire south east.
“It is constant and it’s now going to be with us for another 24 hours.”
Ms Palaszczuk said a lot of water was coming up in areas around the Brisbane river, with Wivenhoe Dam’s capacity standing around 16o per cent.
She also urged people to conserve drinking water due to a treatment system at Mount Crosby experiencing issues.
A severe weather warning was issued by the Bureau of Meteorology for the coast and parts of the Darling Downs and Granite Belt forecast districts on Sunday morning.
They warned more than 200mm could fall over six hours and “life-threatening flash flooding” could follow.
An emergency alert was also issued for residents in Beachmere, north of Brisbane, warning properties “may have no water” due to a power outage.
“With Beachmere inaccessible due to flooded roads, Unitywater is investigating options to make the pump operational again,” the alert reads.
On Saturday, Mr Schrinner took to Twitter to share the council’s latest flood modelling.
He said overnight flows combined with possible Wivenhoe Dam releases and high tide could cause water to enter properties across the city.
“Residents in low-lying areas should make sure they’re prepared. Stock up on sandbags at our depots, ensure your household has essentials and know when it’s time to leave,” Mr Schrinner wrote.
On Sunday morning, a man’s body was found in a car in floodwaters in Indooroopilly.
He is the sixth person confirmed to have died during the weather disaster, with an SES volunteer perishing in floodwaters after trying to rescue stranded residents in the Lockyer Valley.
The body of a Goomboorian man, 37, was found in Gympie floodwaters on Saturday.
Another man remains missing after falling into the Brisbane River.
Areas north of Brisbane have borne the brunt of the devastating deluge, with thousands of homes without power.
In Gympie, the city’s CBD was inundated with water and multiple homes were evacuated as up to 950mm fell in the region.
Multiple roads across the Sunshine Coast also remain cut off as authorities said the weather event is forecast to move south.
Emergency services have responded to more than 6000 calls for flood related matters.
