QLD:More rains expected as Qld cleans up

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2010
QLD:More rains expected as Qld cleans up

By Lisa Martin

BRISBANE, Dec 5 AAP - Emergency crews are sandbagging and mopping up storm damage to
households across Queensland as the state braces for further downpours.

State Emergency Service (SES) crews responded to 20 calls for help in Brisbane on Sunday,
half for sandbagging and the other half for leaking roofs.

Crews were also called to fix leaking roofs on the Gold Coast and to mop up storm damage
on the Sunshine Coast, where 15,000 homes were without power for half-an-hour after a
fault at a substation.

And customers in the Redlands were suffering power cuts to 1500 homes on Sunday afternoon
after a tree fell on powerlines.

Overnight, the heaviest falls were in the Gold Coast hinterland, where 163mm was recorded
at Worongary Creek in the 24 hours to 9am (AEST).

But the Sunshine Coast hinterland recorded the heaviest falls during Sunday, with Gympie
receiving 71mm in nearly eight hours from 9am (AEST).

The soggy conditions caused rockslides, landslips, power cuts and traffic crashes on
Queensland roads.

Police have urged motorists to slow down in the wet weather and warned against crossing
flooded roads.

The warning follows the death of an 81-year-old man in floodwaters after his ute was
swept off a road at Bajool on Friday night.

Rockslides also caused the closure of a section of the Cunningham Highway at Cunningham's
Gap and Springbrook Road, on the Gold Coast.

And a family of nine were drying out after being rescued from a flooded farmhouse in
central Queensland.

Eight adults, one child and three dogs were evacuated in rescue boats from a property
at Comet, west of Rockhampton, on Saturday afternoon.

Some areas in the Gemfields are still inaccessible because highways remain underwater
and the town of Rolleston is isolated, an emergency services spokeswoman said.

Central Highlands mayor Peter Maguire told AAP some of the rivers around Emerald had
peaked, following another storm south of the town on Saturday night.

"We're still cut off ... you can't get east to Rockhampton or north or south," he said.

"You can get through west to Longreach, but there are some road restrictions."

Mr Maguire said Queensland Rail had three days of work ahead before the train line
to Rockhampton would be open again.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior forecaster Brett Maguire said widespread rainfall
was forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, potentially causing further floods.

And rain would become more widespread and heavier in the southeast at the end of the
week, he said.

The BOM has flood warnings current for Bulloo, Condamine, Balonne, Maranoa, Paroo,
Bremer, Thomson, Barcoo and Warrego rivers, Fitzroy River Basin, as well as Laidley, Lockyer,
Warrill and Cooper creeks.

AAP lpm/jm/msk

KEYWORD: FLOODS QLD WRAP

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