Author Topic: Rain event and thunderstorms SE QLD & NSW (incl major flooding Mid North Coast): 13-18 Feb 2009  (Read 36468 times)

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Offline Colin Maitland

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It has been a pretty wet night and day in Brisbane. Roads have been closed due to localised flooding, north and west of Brisbane. We are starting to have flash flooding as the rain band from up north is slowly moving south.

The Moreton Bay Regional Council says 10 local roads are flooded and it is monitoring several others.

Emergency Services say SES crews have been called out to four roof repair jobs in the south-east.

The weather bureau is predicting a wet and windy weekend for the south-east.

Overnight, there have been heavy falls of more than 120 millimetres around the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane's northern suburbs.

Areas further south received up to 75 millimetres.

Earlier forecaster Jonty Hall says there is more to come. He said  "I'd be surprised if this hung around all day," he said.

"We'll see showers feeding onto the coast and a bit of patchy light rain but we won't see the heavy stuff going all day. ( Guess what, it has been, with rather heavy falls at times especially here at Bracken Ridge. )

Saturday's still shaping up to have a fair bit of rain around, clouding conditions and fairly windy."

He says Brisbane has also received some goodfalls.

"The best falls we've got in the Brisbane area at the moment is in those outer northern suburbs up towards Caboolture," he said.

"There's an area just near Burpengary that's had more than 100 millimetres - about 110."

The Buearua has forecasted  a low,  this is the post

A weak low pressure system is expected to develop near the Queensland coast in
the vicinity of 23S 152E during the next 24 hours but will not be a tropical
cyclone. The low is expected to deepen and track southeast near the Queensland
east coast on Saturday and be located off the far southern Queensland or
northern New South Wales coast on Sunday.

It is said that almost 2/3 of QLD is flooded and floodwaters across parts of western Queensland are again on the rise.

The weather bureau's Peter Baddiley says "the Georgina and Diamantina rivers in the central west are at the heights of the massive 1974 floods."


All we need in Brisbane is for the low to form, call it Cyclone Wanda II and we have the 1974 floods. Our tides are still very high and we are receiving a lot of rain.

At this stage it is hard to tell exactly how much rain or to what extent Brisbane will flash flood over the next two days if this continues, it is a wait and see at this stage.

I went out with my wife to look at some of the local areas, and they are starting to flood, we will be going out again shortly to take some more photos, for records if this weather pattern persists.

As I said it is early days and I had My wife try and take the photos as we were driving to see how it would work out, because there is nowhere to pull over.

The last pictures is sort of the normal view from the rear of our house. You overlook Redcliffe, Moreton Bay, Moreton Island and North Straddie on a good day. But the first picture is what it has been like all day.

Just about to head out and see how much it has risen.


Offline Shaun Galman

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Hi guys,
Nice report and pics coltan!
We are in a similar situation here but we had a severe storm sit just to our West all morning that was sucking in the atmosphere from all directions. It was the darkest storm I've seen in some time! It was slow moving and looked to be torrential rain and hail (greenish colours at the cloud base of the HP core) and a shifting RFB that would pull into the cell and then form again. Thunder was constant and CG were about but not as many as I would have thought from such a nasty looking storm? I was out on the opal fields so I had no camera unfortunately but I did take a snap with the (last resort) low res mobile camera.
Rain has been constant in town since 3pm. I haven't been out to the gauge as yet but will post a total soon enough, possibly when it's not too muddy to get to my gauge lol.

Shame about the cricket being washed also?

Kindest regards,
Shauno
Chasing Region: Lightning Ridge. N.S.W.
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Offline Colin Maitland

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while we were out taking photos of the rising creeks and areas, I received my first EWN alert on my mobile phone, very impressed, so when we got home I went to BOM site for the warning for the Southeast Coast,


TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
for Flash Flooding and Dangerous Surf.
For people in the Southeast Coast and Wide Bay & Burnett districts.
Issued at 2:25 pm on Friday 13 February 2009

Synoptic Situation: A low pressure system is expected to form offshore from
Fraser Island late on Friday. This low is expected to move southwards adjacent
to the coast while deepening, and be near the southern border on Saturday night.
The combination of this low and a vigorous upper trough will result in heavy
rainfall.     

Heavy rainfall is likely to cause flash flooding and stream rises in the warning
area this afternoon and continue on Saturday.

Dangerous surf is expected to develop about exposed beaches on the Sunshine and
Fraser Coasts this afternoon, and extend south to the Gold Coast on Saturday
morning.

Here is some of the latest photos, but we will keep on venturing out further over the weekend to see what is happening.
The first picture is back veranda again, but this time showing the wind is increasing with rain blowing of the neighbours roof.

Keep you posted if anything eventuates over the weekend

(PS. Still having trouble resizing,  I thought I had it this time, Iam using Pixresizer but not getting it right. I am going to try another suggested programe before any more photos.)

Col.
« Last Edit: 14 February 2009, 12:36:01 PM by coltan »

Offline Shaun Galman

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Report 13th February 2009:
Did a quick check of the rain gauge and we've just received 25mm in the last couple hours. The rain is still absolutely torrential out there at the moment!


Upper Western NSW. Storm & Heavy Rain Report. 14th February 2009.
The storm that came by to our North-West earlier today was also very low based, HP and showed sings of severity during cyclic phases. We, my dad and I, were once again out on the opal fields so I can't really give you much other info than what I saw while stuck in out it Jimmy? I can say however winds were pretty minimal as the main core of the storm/s were further to our North, North-West. We copped a very heavy downpour that flooded everything in a matter of minutes around 11am. Two CG hit around 300mtrs from us while driving back into town and the rain cut off about 10k's out at that point. There was an amazing striated RFB all along the edge of the storms that had nice CG emitting every minute or so.
At 12:30pm we arrived back in town only to cop another heavy deluge, only heavy rain, nothing stormy (seems to be the edge of whatever Bourke had received as per Richary's post below). Haven't checked the rain gauge yet or emptied the 25mm from yesterday due to the yard being too darn muddy! I can see the gauge from the kitchen window and it looks full! Should be pushing around 50-60mm for the last two days at a guess.
I couldn't get photos again due to the torrential rain? Oh well... these things happen I guess lol.
It all seems to have abated as of 3pm today. Still very low-based clouds around though, as it has been for the last two days. No doubt there will be more on the cards over the coming days.

Kindest regards,
Shauno (will get those rain totals up soon.)

EDIT: The temps hardly got above 21c today (24c for the 13th Feb.) which makes a marvellous change from being stuck in the low 40's lol!
« Last Edit: 15 February 2009, 10:57:00 AM by Shaun Galman »
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Offline Richary

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While at the moment Sydney has only been receiving showers and some brief heavier falls I have totalled 43mm here since it started, which is the best rain we have had in a long time. Channel 9 suggested at least a further 50mm was possible over the next few days. Unfortunately as usual Sydney has been receiving the best rain near the coast and only 3mm over Warragamba Dam. Obviously the dam is in the wrong place - I still maintain they should dam the heads and put the catchment there :-)

The bureau believes an offshore low is going to form near the NSW/QLD border and travel south over the weekend bringing locally heavy rain and potential flash flooding to areas from Newcastle north to the border. At the same time the GFS forecast on bsch is predicting a localised area over the Hunter that will receive around 250mm over the next week, definitely enough to cause some flooding there. It will be interesting to see how it pans out, and certainly a change from the summer pattern we have experienced lately with the heatwaves.

On the positive side the garden definitely needs it. On the negative, this looks like being a total washout of a lightning storm season in the local Sydney region.

Offline TroyVR

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Ive recorded 40mm since 9AM yesterday here in Miranda. not a bad effort.

Edit JD: Can you expand further on what happened and the type of conditions experienced eg winds, temperatures and so forth how many days of rain so far etc and then delete my comment
« Last Edit: 15 February 2009, 01:53:54 AM by Jimmy Deguara »

Offline Jimmy Deguara

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Hi,

It has been cool for the past few days - particularly yesterday and today. We had the following rainfall totals:

DateRainfall
Monday, 9 February 2009TRR
Tuesday, 10 February 2009 4.0
Wednesday, 11 February 2009 3.8
Thursday, 12 February 2009 2.6
Friday, 13 February 2009    6.4
Saturday, 14 February 200931.2
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Offline Colin Maitland

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Just checked the BOM rainfall for the 13 Feb to 9.00am

Northern suburbs of Brisbane  ( I live at Bracken Ridge which is right between Redcliffe and Boondal)

Brisbane Airport                    64 mm
Redcliffe                             80mm
Strathpine                          131mm
Toombul                             83 mm
Boondal                              91mm 

North Coast
Eumundi                             72 mm
Maroochydore                     91 mm

South of City                     
Logan City                         51mm

So far the Brisbane airport has registered 35 mm

It has lightly rained all night, the wind was picking up but has since become relatively calm

Cape Moreton                 4.20 am      83 Km/h       45 knots   
Brisbane Airport              5.36 am      50m/h          27 knots
Double Island Point          4.20am       82km/h        44 knots 
Redcliffe                        12.00am     59km/h        27 knotts.

Will wait and see what the day hold out, we still have a severe weather warning current

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
for Flash Flooding, Dangerous Surf and Damaging Winds.
For people in the Southeast Coast, Wide Bay & Burnett and the eastern Darling
Downs & Granite Belt districts.
Issued at 5:00 am on Saturday 14 February 2009

Synoptic Situation: A low pressure system off the Capricornia coast is expected
to move southwards adjacent to the coast while deepening, and be near the
southern border tonight. The combination of this low and a large high east of
Tasmania is producing strong to gale force winds and dangerous surf along the
southern Queensland coast. Locally heavy rainfall is possible as the low moves
southwards and a vigorous upper trough approaches from the west.       

Locally heavy rainfall may redevelop about coastal areas from Fraser Island to
the southern border during this morning before easing late afternoon and
evening. This rainfall may produce flash flooding and stream rises.

Dangerous surf is expected about the exposed beaches from Fraser Island to the
Gold Coast.

Damaging wind gusts of up to 90 km/h are expected about the exposed coastline
between Fraser Island and the Gold Coast, as well as the hilltops and ridges
inland into the eastern Darling Downs & Granite Belt district. These winds are
likely to contract south and gradually ease later in the day and tonight.

Still working on resizing photos but will keep you posted if anything happens.


Offline Colin Maitland

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Just looking at the radar and NSW looks to receiving most of the rain. The weather in Brisbane has just been constant light rain and windy, nothing extreme. It seems, as at 10.20 am QLD time, the worst has past over the North of Brisbane.

The latest update

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING
for Dangerous Surf.
For people in the Southeast Coast.
Issued at 10:20 am on Saturday 14 February 2009

Synoptic Situation: A low pressure system was located near Cape Moreton and was
moving steadily to the south south-east. The low is expected to be located off
the northern NSw coast by mid afternoon.       

Dangerous surf is expected about the exposed beaches and bars from Double Island
Point to Point Danger for today.

Just some localised flooding, but all receding. Lake Kurwongbah is at full capacity. Some good rainfall


Offline Richary

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Surprised nobody has mentioned it yet but Bourke NSW broke it's 24 hour rainfall record to 9am this morning, recording 197.6mm. Fortunately the river levels seem to have stabilised below minor flood.

Offline Antonio (stormboy)

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It has been absolutely windy and raining all day here in ballina fortunately no pictures because had to go out to grafton today it was rainy there too. Right now to what I can see the winds are pure south east probably 40+kmh and its pouring down rain and if you look on weather zones 28 day rain check or picture below all of this month is forecast rainy.

post by storm boy

Offline Shaun Galman

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Surprised nobody has mentioned it yet but Bourke NSW broke it's 24 hour rainfall record to 9am this morning, recording 197.6mm. Fortunately the river levels seem to have stabilised below minor flood.

I can believe it Richary! We have been on the edge of that here at Lightning Ridge for two days and my rain gauge is full! Posted my little report above in the prior edit.

Take care and enjoy this darn nice weather :D
Shauno.
Chasing Region: Lightning Ridge. N.S.W.
Website: www.ridgelightning.com

Offline Michael Bath

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A few falls locations in the Walgett Coonamble area were well over 100mm to 9am this morning with some further decent falls today. But that Bourke reading was amazing - breaking a record daily rainfall dating back to 1874. There was also golf ball sized hail just SW of town before the heavy rain thunderstorms set in.

24mm to 9am here at McLeans Ridges with 35mm so far today (8pm 14th Feb). Was on duty at Richmond Tweed division SES 6am to 4pm due to the flood watch however the real threat is now from Coffs and south - could be some major flooding. The hail report from Bourke was via one of the SES members who used to live in Bourke.
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Offline Colin Maitland

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As for Southeast QLD, the heavy rainfall was towards the south of Brisbane and the Gold Coast yesterday. We still had some decent falls around Brisbane, but as for the gusty wind, it was a relatively calm day. The sunshine coast had a sloppy, 4 feet easterly swell, not worth the effort to get your board wet, today looks more promising for a surf with a 4-6 feet easterly with swell with no wind this morning. But a North easterly is expected this afternoon and it will chop it up a fair bit. The severe weather did not amount to much in QLD, besides a few call outs for leaking roofs etc, it was good to see the rain.

The rainfalls

Brisbane North/Metro

Alderley             44  mm
Archerfield            31  mm
Boondall            44  mm
Brisbane AP    18  mm
Brisbane            37  mm
Strathpine     63 mm

Sunshine Coast areas including Fraser coast


Kenilworth      40 mm
Maleny             60 mm 
Maroochydore    33 mm
Sandy Cape     75 mm 
Beerburrum     73 mm
Rainbow Beach     45 mm

South Coast had heavier Falls

Coolangatta             70  mm
Coomera                    61  mm
Gold Cst Seaway     40  mm
Miami                     86  mm
Mt Tamborine             73  mm 
Southport                   135  mm
Springbrook           70  mm
Natural Bridge            76  mm 

Just reading the paper and NSW is expected the worst of this rain and severe weather.

It is turning out to be a  great day after all the rain. It is going to be hot and 33C, so with all the rain we had, it is going to drag a lot of moisture out of the ground and into the air. They are talking possible storms Tues. but I will be keeping an eye out everyday.
« Last Edit: 16 February 2009, 04:55:01 AM by coltan »

Offline Harley Pearman

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Bellinger Valley and Northern New South Wales - Rain event:

I spent nearly three days in the Bellinger Valley, North Coast of New South Wales and situated south west of Coffs Harbour. On Wednesday afternoon, a thunderstorm dropped 12 mm of rain on the town of Bellingen. Although some totals of up to 30 mm were recorded in some more remote areas of the valley during this event.

Thursday was mostly clear although some showers fell from late afternoon onwards. However on Friday and up to Saturday morning some 112 mm of rain had fallen on the town of Bellingen. That is the wettest day I have ever experienced. Some areas toward Mt Coramba and Point Lookout had higher totals.

The Bellinger River while not in flood had risen somewhat and the potential existed for flooding should the heavy rain continue.

On Saturday 14/2/09, I drove back to Sydney Via Armidale and Tamworth. I drove passed one small rockslide that had partially blocked the road east of Armidale.

On Saturday, Armidale received 38 mm of rain.

On the morning of 11/2/09, I visited Wollomombi Falls and found that the falls had totally dried up. The rainfall should help to put water back into Australia's highest waterfall.

Tamworth received 63.84 mm its best rainfall for a while on Saturday. This event ended a recent heatwave that saw the city score 5 days in a row of 38C temperatures. The rain was welcome up here given that it has been dry over recent weeks.

I drove almost 500 km in non stop rain and approaching Singleton, I drove into heavy rain that made driving too difficult especially with water over the road. I spent the night in a hotel north of Singleton.

I learnt checking the Bureau of Meteorology Weather Stations that Singleton scored around 100mm of rain overnight 14/2/09 to early morning 15/2/09. That made it the second 100 mm rainfall event that I experienced Friday, Saturday and into Sunday.

Most places from Singleton east to Newcastle experienced 100 mm rainfalls and parts of Newcastle scored 200 mm. While the Hunter River was not in flood, I drove past several paddocks that had suffered from water inundation.

Looking at the rainfall figures, the North Coast, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, Hunter and Sydney scored reasonably high rainfall totals. Given that I was travelling throughout the affected regions, the rainfall was widespread and reached much of the northern inland.

Only the west and south west areas of New South Wales missed out.

Harley Pearman