Source : Perth Now news
An ABC reporter and bystanders have jumped into surging floodwaters to save the driver of a sinking ute in incredible scenes caught on camera.
ABC reporter Will Murray and another man swam into churning water north of Brisbane after they spotted a man stuck inside a sinking ute.
The men were able to successfully rescue the driver from the car.
Large parts of southern Queensland have become inundated with record-breaking rainfall over the last 24 hours, with some rain gauges registering more than 300mm.
October rainfall records smashed
Heavy rainfall has been battering large parts of southeast Queensland over the past 24 hours, with some rain gauges recording their highest ever rainfall totals for October.
The weather station at Beerburrum, a small town wedged between the Sunshine Coast and north Brisbane, has recorded 170mm in one day, making it the wettest October in the station’s 130 years of recorded totals.
Mount Tamborine has recorded its second highest ever October rainfall total, and still has time to break the record, and Beechmont has beaten its record.
Near the NSW border, Binnabura received 136mm in a day.
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Robert Urbaniak said the rainfall will continue through into Friday.
“There are severe thunderstorms ongoing around the scenic rim of Queesnland, and they are expected to be ongoing. Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast are at risk of these thunderstorms leading to heavy rainfall,” he said.
“This rainfall will head into the late afternoon for Brisbane and most likely through the evening for the Sunshine Coast.”
Mr Urbaniak said the recent heavy rain had been “enough to cause fairly widespread flash flooding on the roads”.
“The stormwater system just can’t take that amount of rain in that short amount of time, and because of that we’ve seen a lot of road closures around the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
The storm clouds are expected to lighten up later in the evening as they move over northern NSW and then dissipate later on Friday.
Urgent call for help as homeless camps flooded
Homeless camps have become inundated with water and residents have been left stranded with nowhere to go as storms continue to surge across southern Queensland.
A homeless camp in Moreton Bay has become inundated with water after heavy rain smashed the region, with tents surrounded by large puddles.
In an urgent call to local authorities posted on Facebook on Thursday morning, the owners of local charity Nourish Street said the ongoing rain had left Wylie Park in an “unacceptable” state.
“With the ongoing rain, the ground is saturated, tents are leaking, bedding is soaked and people are being forced to sleep in conditions that are unacceptable,” the post reads.
“These are human beings, not just tents in a park. There comes a point where replacing a wet tent with another tent on waterlogged ground is no longer a solution.
“People need somewhere safe and dry to sleep.”
More to come
