Women rescued from floodwaters as deluge continues

Two people have been rescued from floodwaters after a rain-hit state was again struck by storms ahead of the festive season.

The women were found in the tray of a ute after a swift water rescue team was called to Euthulla, about 450 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, on Tuesday night.

The SES has responded to almost 200 callouts across Queensland since Tuesday morning, mostly for leaking roofs, sandbagging and fallen trees after the latest round of wet weather.

“The ground is really quite wet at the moment, so it doesn’t take too much for some of those trees to decide that they’d rather lay down than stand up,” SES operations director Glenn Alderton told ABC Radio.

More than 300 properties were without power on Wednesday, with thousands at one stage affected mostly across the Gladstone and Sunshine Coast region north of Brisbane.

Central and eastern Queensland copped the brunt of the heavy rain on Tuesday, with Mapleton, north of the Sunshine Coast, hit with 102 millimetres. Nearby Cooloolabin Dam got 103 millimetres.

Up north, Townsville had about 65 millimetres, while in the south-east Brisbane was drier than in recent days. However, its 10 millimetres of rain in 24 hours was enough to cause major delays for players in the cricket Test between Australia and India at the Gabba.

More wet weather is expected, with storms forecast from Brisbane to Townsville on Wednesday afternoon.

“The most significant threat with the thunderstorms would be areas of heavy rain which could contribute to flash flooding or riverine flooding,” Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines said.

He said the frequent bursts of wet weather in Queensland in the past eight weeks had saturated the ground and swollen rivers, contributing to the flood risk.

Flood warnings remain for more than a dozen rivers and creeks in southeast, west and central Queensland.

Hines warned many of the minor flood warnings could possibly escalate to moderate with heavy rainfall.

Water has been released from the south-east’s Wivenhoe Dam for the first time in two years after it reached 90 per cent capacity.

It led to the closure of Savages Crossing, Colleges Crossing and Twins Bridges roads, escalating the risk of flooding in the waterways around the region’s major dam.

“There’s certainly a distinct possibility that we will see significant rises given the stormy forecast for the rest of the days,” Hines said.

The last time the dam released water was during 2022 floods, which caused destruction across Queensland’s south-east and northern NSW, resulting in 24 deaths.

Somerset and North Pine dams are also releasing floodwaters.

The storms and rainfall in the south-east are forecast to ease from Thursday afternoon, providing a welcome dry spell into Christmas week.

However, north Queensland is next in the firing line for wet weather and storms beginning on Thursday from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Townsville.

“It’s a split forecast across the state with it continuing to be wet and stormy in the north but much drier and sunny in the south,” Hines said.

-AAP