Heavy rainfall has drenched the Ipswich region blocking roads and leaving locals in search of sandbags.
On Wednesday morning, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) released a major flood warning for the Bremer River and Warrill Creek catchments.
Rainfall totals of 70 to 120 mm have been recorded in the 24h to 9am Wednesday across the Bremer River, Warrill Creek and Lower Brisbane catchments.
Showers and isolated thunderstorms are forecast to continue today.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner, Greg Leach, urged motorists to stay off flooded roads and avoid driving in the wet weather if possible.
“Been a very busy start to our severe wet weather season here in Queensland,” he said.
“I can’t emphasis enough the dangers of driving into flood water.
“The water might look calm and shallow and you might have a powerful vehicle but the reality is it’s dangerous to drive through flood waters.”
BoM Senior Meteorologist, Laura Boekel, said more than 50 of BoM’s South East Queensland gages recorded over 100mm in the past 24 hours.
“We’ve seen some significant rainfall overnight across large parts of Queensland, the focus is really in the South East however where we did see some really intense rainfall,” she said.
“For today the good news is that the upper trough, this big weather system that’s been causing this widespread rainfall has now moved offshore.
“We [will] see a little bit of reprieve in terms of this widespread rainfall that has caused so much impact across Queensland.
“However, it’s really important to note we are expecting to see showers and storms today.
“We’re definitely not out of the woods yet.”
Road closures
Transport and Main Roads has listed more than 20 roads in Ipswich as closed or affected by floodwaters.
More than 1,000 sandbags have also been made available for the community by the Ipswich City Council.
Sandbags are available at the Council Depot, 182-250 Briggs Rd, Raceview and the SES Depot, 21 Rosewood Warrill View Rd, Rosewood.
On Tuesday morning, Mayor Teresa Harding said 150 sandbags from the Briggs Road collection point were issued, leaving 450 bags.
Closed to all traffic
Haigslea Amberley Road, Walloon.
Wards Road, South Ripley.
Watsons Road, South Ripley.
Mcgearys Road, Rosewood.
Rosewood Warrill View Road, Rosewood and Lower Mount Walker.
Purga School Road and Ipswich Boonah Road, Purga.
Stevens Road, Lanefield.
Ipswich Rosewood Road, Jeebropilly.
Albert Street, Goodna.
Swanbank Road, Flinders View.
Lobb Street, Churchill.
Katandra Crescent and Brennan Street, Bellbird Park.
Reinke Road, Ashwell.
Lanes affected
Blackstone Road, Silkstone.
Rosewood Laidley Road, Rosewood and Calvert.
Henderson Road, Calvert.
Urry Road, Rosewood.
Fischer Road and Nevis Road, Ripley.
Carlie Court and Shanahan Parade, Redbank Plains.
Ebenezer Road, Ebenezer.
Woodlands Avenue, Camira.
River and Creek levels
As of Wednesday morning, moderate flooding is occurring along the Bremer River with moderate to major flooding along Warrill Creek.
Laura Boekel said because the catchments were saturated the rivers and creeks were responding ‘incredibly quickly’ to any rainfall.
“We actually don’t need to see heavy or intense amounts to see impacts on the ground of flash or riverine flooding,” she said.
The Bremer River at Rosewood is currently peaking at 5.46 metres and steady, with moderate flooding. It is expected to remain above the moderate flood level [5 meters] Wednesday afternoon.
The Bremer River at Five Mile Bridge is currently at 5.94 metres and rising, with moderate flooding, Bom is expecting it will peak near 6 metres on Wednesday afternoon.
The Bremer River at Walloon is at 6.84 metres and rising, with moderate flooding with a peak prediction of near 7.2 metres Wednesday afternoon.
The Bremer River at Ipswich is currently at 4.02 metres and rising, it’s expected to remain below the minor flood level [7 meters] during Wednesday.
The Warrill Creek at Kalbar may reach the moderate flood level [7 meters] during Wednesday.
The Warrill Creek at Harrisville is currently at 5.4 metres and rising, with major flooding, BoM recorded it may peak at 5.5 meters by Wednesday afternoon.
The Warrill Creek at Amberley is currently at 5.9 metres and rising, with moderate flooding, it may peak to 6.00 metres by Wednesday afternoon.