Ex-Cyclone Alfred live: Severe thunderstorms to hit south-east Qld, major flood warning on Gold Coast

A bit more detail has just been issued by Logan City Council about flooding on the Albert River.

They are warning that a major flood of the Albert River is happening now.

An Emergency Alert has been issued to Tamborine, Cedar Creek, Wolfdene, Bannockburn, Windaroo, Mt Warren Park, Beenleigh, and Eagleby.

Council advises dangerous flooding is occurring in the area, and urges Tamborine, Cedar Creek, Wolfdene, Bannockburn, Windaroo, Mt Warren Park, Beenleigh, and Eagleby residents it’s too dangerous to leave now.

Logan City Council has issued emergency warning for residents in Tamborine, Cedar Creek, Wolfdene, Bannockburn, Windaroo, Mt Warren Park, Beenleigh and Eagleby.

There is also an emergency warning to take action now for parts of the Gold Coast. The Emergency Alert is current for: Currumbin, Currumbin Valley, Tallebudgera, Tallebudgera Valley and Elanora.

The City of Gold Coast has issued an Emergency warning and advises the people in the Luscombe, Yatala, Stapylton, Alberton and Gilberton regions to stay in place, it is TOO DANGEROUS TO LEAVE. Get up as high as you can where you are. 

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Matthew Bass has just given an update to ABC Radio Brisbane.

He says a severe thunderstorm is currently moving through Brisbane, dropping between 40 and 45mm of rain in the last hour.

“That will probably keep moving through the western and southwestern suburbs in the coming hours,” he says.

“We know that a lot of those inner city suburbs are quite flood prone.”

The deluge caused by ex-tropical cyclone Alfred has resulted in huge rainfall totals across Brisbane, including 213mm in the Brisbane CBD since 9am Sunday.

He says the Enoggera Reservoir was spilling at high levels and urged Brisbane residents to stay away from local waterways.

The Bureau of Meteorology has just released the latest severe thunderstorm warning for southeast Queensland.

It is warning of intense rainfall with very dangerous thunderstorms for parts of the Gympie, Brisbane City, Moreton Bay and Ipswich Council Areas.

The Bureau is warning that the very dangerous thunderstorms are: “likely to produce intense rainfall that may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding were detected near the ranges between Gympie and Murgon, Boondall, Sandgate and Brighton”.

“These thunderstorms are slow moving. They are forecast to affect Brisbane CBD by 11:05 pm and the area southwest of Gympie and Brisbane Airport by 11:35 pm.”

Two other storms, including a large one threatening the northern Gold Coast, have been removed from this latest warning.

The BoM says 147mm of rain was recorded at Kingsholme (near the M1 on the Gold Coast) in the three hour to 8:54pm tonight.

We’ve seen a lot of water already today and there is more on the way. Here’s a look at rainfall totals, courtesy of our friends at ABC News Story Lab.

You can check out rainfall totals and wind speeds by checking out the article below.

Matthew Bass is a senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology and gave another update to ABC Radio Brisbane not long ago.

He said heavy rainfall totals over the past three hours have made the northern Gold Coast an area of concern.

“The past couple of hours we’ve seen hundreds of millimetres,” he says.

“There is a lot of water on the ground and significant flash flooding in that area so that is the main area of concern at the moment, through that northern Gold Coast area.

The Gold Coast cell is “not moving a great deal” but the multiple cells over Brisbane, which brought intense rainfall, are “tending to move through a bit more quickly”.

The City of Gold Coast has advised residents in the Luscombe, Yatala, Stapylton, Alberton and Gilberton areas to stay in place as it is now too late to leave.

Residents are being warned to “get up as high as you can where you are”.

There is major flooding occurring on the Albert River at Beenleigh, with the water level also rising in the Logan River.

Roads are now likely to be flooded.

If you are near floodwater, you may need to get up as high as you can.

Residents in the Lockyer Valley town of Laidley are being warned to “take safe shelter now” as dangerous flooding is likely to occur in the area in the coming hours.

The warning urges those to warn neighbours, secure belongings and take safe shelter or seek higher ground.

An evacuation centre is open at Laidley State High School.

ABC meteorologist Tom Saunders has been monitoring Alfred’s movements and forecasting what’s to come.

Already, some areas have received over 800mm of rain, and residents of the Fraser Coast today copped a deluge.

But those hoping Alfred’s impacts are weakening are set to be disappointed, with the system continuing to drag rain onto shores across southeast Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.

Read Tom Saunders’ breakdown of what Alfred is expected to do next:

It might be an ex, but it’s still hanging around. See how Alfred wreaked havoc across the NSW and Queensland coasts on Sunday.

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 We’ve put together a searchable list of the Queensland school closures for Monday announced earlier today.

You can search your school name below to see if it’s on the list.

Keep in mind, this is the list announced on Sunday for Monday school closures — please check the Queensland Education Department website later tomorrow if you’re looking for information about Tuesday and beyond.

A list of closed schools in NSW is available at the NSW Department of Education website here.

Reporting by Lucy Cooper

A Hervey Bay local said he had to help evacuate elderly people on his street this morning by kayak.

Originally from Fiji, Maciu ‘Mac’ Bolaitamana has lived in Hervey Bay for two years and woke up surprised to see water up to his neighbours doorsteps.

“That’s when I realised, ‘oh it’s really serious’,” he said.

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He had a tree fall in front of house but said the real “devastation” was along Hervey Bay’s esplanade.

“Me and number of those that live in my community have been helping out with evacuation.

“A lot of those that live on our street are elderly people and we put them in our kayaks and canoes,” he said.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for three separate systems bearing down on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane City and Scenic Rim regions.

The warning applies to residents in parts of the Logan, Scenic Rim, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Brisbane City, Moreton Bay and Somerset Council areas.

The storms are likely to produce intense rainfall that may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding, the bureau says.

The Brisbane cell is currently affecting the Brisbane CBD, Brisbane Airport and Enoggera areas, and is expected to reach Camp Hill by 9:40pm.

The Sunshine Coast cell is expected to impact Woodford, Mount Beerwah and Peachester around a similar time.

BOM’s Matthew Bass has reiterated to listeners on ABC Radio to remain vigilant as more heavy rainfall is predicted over northern Brisbane.

“This rainfall will pick up tonight and potentially we could see those intense falls.

“Those really dangerous conditions that lead to life-threatening flash flooding really picking up over parts of northern Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and then extending out through those western areas, the Lockyer and Scenic Rim as well.”

“I don’t think there’s going to be huge easing across Brisbane City tonight, unfortunately,” BOM’s Matthew Bass told ABC Radio Brisbane.

“There will be a general contraction of the rain throughout the night towards more western areas, so moving into the Lockyer and Scenic Rim.

“But we’re going to see at least moderate to heavy rainfall continuing for much of the night, even on the coastal parts, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast in particular.”

Bass added there won’t be a “significant easing” of rainfall for much of the south east until “some stage tomorrow”.

BOM’s Matthew Bass has urged listeners on ABC Radio to remain vigilant for the next 12-24 hours.

“Unfortunately this has been a very prolonged event for everyone and I know the community is feeling it,” he says.

“But we are going to have to remain vigilant at least, probably, for another 12-24 hours.

“Maybe tomorrow, or later tomorrow afternoon and evening, we may have some more confidence that the worst of conditions — particularly the rainfall — will have full eased off.

“People will still need to remain vigilant for a little while longer yet, particularly overnight tonight.

“I think we’re going to see those rainfalls pick up and through those areas which haven’t seen much rainfall.”

Matthew Bass from the Bureau of Meteorology spoke to ABC Radio a few moments ago and says south east Queensland remains in a “dynamic situation with the residual rainfall from ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.”

“The system continues to push further inland,” Bass says.

“But what we are seeing is that onshore easterly flow right across Queensland continuing to generate these heavily to locally intense rainfalls.”

Those rainfalls are continuing for the southern Wide Bay to Gympie down to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, through northern parts of Brisbane and then right to the west into the Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim, and then down across the Gold Coast and spilling over into the Tweed in northern NSW.

As Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred moves inland, we’re tracking rainfall totals and wind speeds at key locations across the predicted path of what is now a slow-moving tropical low.

Conditions are expected to ease slightly tomorrow, but parts of south-east Queensland are still expected to receive upwards of 50mm, with areas west of Ipswich set to record the biggest totals at over 100mm.

You can follow along with our tracker at the link below.