source : the age
A severe thunderstorm is forecast for Brisbane on Thursday morning, with the weather bureau warning residents in the city’s west to secure vehicles and prepare for power outages.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning for flash flooding between the Sunshine Coast and the state border – including Brisbane, Caboolture, and the Gold Coast hinterland – across Thursday.
A storm travelling south already dumped almost 150 millimetres of rain on Caboolture and Morayfield over three hours from 4.15am.
Over that period, Burpengary received 127 millimetres of rain, and Elimbah, just south of the Sunshine Coast, recorded 116 millimetres.
Senior meteorologist Angus Hines said the region has experienced a few smaller storms, but said the storm season generally had been less intense than in previous years.
“This [storm] will be the first big one and certainly the one that’s bringing the most intense rainfall,” he said.
The weather bureau predicted the storm would sit over Brisbane’s north-western suburbs by 7am, including Strathpine, Upper Brookfield and Enoggera Reservoir.
By 7.30am, the storm was forecast to have moved across the western suburbs to Ipswich, Bundamba Lagoon and Redbank Plains.
Residents were advised to move vehicles away from trees or park them undercover, secure pets and close windows.
The weather bureau also strongly discouraged driving as the storm passed overhead.
“Go inside a strong building now. Stay inside until the storm has passed,” the warning read.
Hines said the storms were inside a larger rain system that had been sitting over much of the state since Monday.
“Even without the stormy weather, we’ve got this broad rain band, so pretty much everyone across the south-east will get a decent drop of rain today,” he said.
“Then wherever those thunderstorms pop up, embedded in this overall rain band, those rainfall numbers will climb much more sharply [and] much more rapidly.”
Hines said areas outside the storm’s path could still receive up to 30 millimetres of rain on Thursday.
Energex had yet to record any electricity outages just after 7am.
While the system was not expected to bring intense winds, Hines said gusting could cause isolated instances of swirling wind that could “kick through in any direction”.
The senior meteorologist predicted wet conditions would last until Monday afternoon.
“Temperatures will climb a little bit [over the weekend] because the thick cloud cover and the rain band will break apart a bit,” he said.
“Even though we’ve still got showers in the forecast, we’re much more likely to get some good spells of sunshine.”
But Hines said temperatures would remain between 3 and 6 degrees below the October average – 28 degrees – until the larger rain band lifted.
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