A fifth person has died in southeast Queensland’s worst floods in a decade, which have triggered the evacuation of hundreds of people and cut off towns and suburbs.
The region is being pummelled by multiple severe thunderstorms from a low-pressure trough which has been sitting over the state’s southeast for five days.
The body of a 37-year-old Goomboorian man who went missing in floodwaters near Gympie on Friday night was found by police divers on Saturday, taking the state’s death toll to five.
There are fears that number could rise, with a police search underway for an elderly man who was reported falling off a boat near the mouth of Breakfast Creek about 4.45pm on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Gympie Council was evacuating 700 people living along the swollen Mary River, which will rise above its highest level in 23 years in the next 24 hours.
Residents at Southside and on the hospital side of the river were urged to evacuate immediately and seek higher ground.
Flood sirens were sounded in Grantham, with Lockyer Valley Council encouraging residents to register with the Red Cross’s Register.Find.Reunite service.
“Council is currently fielding calls from concerned family members, seeking to locate loved ones who may be staying in Places of Shelter, or who do not have access to their phones,” a statement said.
Moreton Bay residents have also been urged to get ready to flee with “very dangerous” flooding already “above major levels”.
Logan Mayor Darren Power has warned floodwaters could cut off parts of Logan Village, Buccan, Jimboomba, Glenlogan, Chambers Flat, Carbrook, Kairabah and Bethania in coming days.
The Indigenous community of Cherbourg, west of Gympie, which will soon be cut off, while there is major flooding at Tewantin near Noosa, and Picnic Point and Dunethin Rock on the Sunshine Coast.
Beaudesert, south of Brisbane, and Maryborough, downstream from Gympie, are also set to be inundated by major floods.
Among the five people to have died from the floods was SES volunteer Merryl Dray who was killed when the car she was in with three other volunteers was swept off a road en-route to a rescue on Friday night.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Greg Leach described the 62-year-old’s death as a “tragic loss”.
Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski urged people not to leave home unless they absolutely had to amid warnings of possible “dangerous and life-threatening” flash floods.
“We do not want to lose any more people, so please, please, if it’s flooded, forget it,” he said.
Ipswich is set for its worst flood in a decade with the Bremer River predicted to rise above its 2013 peak of 13.9m on Sunday.
Multiple Brisbane suburbs including Moggill, Jindalee, West End and Capalaba were partially flooded on Saturday.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner on Saturday evening issued a flood warning for 16 suburbs along the Brisbane River, saying “several thousand properties” could be inundated due to the existing flooding, Wivenhoe Dam releases and the high tide.
Residents in low-lying areas of Brisbane city, Bulimba, Hamilton, Milton, New Farm, Newstead, Norman Park, Oxley, Rocklea, South Brisbane, St Lucia, Teneriffe, Toowong, West End, Windsor and Yeronga were urged to be prepared to act.
The rains have also left dozens of roads cut, including the Bruce Highway north of Brisbane and the Warrego Highway west of the city.
Train services north and west of Brisbane are set to be suspended for days, while Brisbane River ferry services have also been halted indefinitely due to dangerous debris in the water.
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