Bundaberg mayor Helen Blackburn warned yesterday afternoon that 280 homes and 120 businesses were expected to be inundated by this morning.
“If the 2010 floods affected you then you need to consider leaving your property immediately and finding safe haven,” Blackburn said.
An emergency alert was issued yesterday afternoon for anyone in Bundaberg North, East, Central and West to “leave immediately”.
The two bridges connecting north and south Bundaberg were closed, Blackburn confirmed just after 3pm (4pm AEDT).
Any residents on the north side of the bridge would be isolated until waters receded.
The river was expected to rise to 7.6 metres, just below the 2010 flood level of 7.92 metres, between midnight and 3am (4am AEDT), according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Photos posted to social media showed Targo Street in Bundaberg Central was already underwater at 8am yesterday (9am AEDT).
Council staff and emergency services were door-knocking at-risk streets.
Four state schools and five independent schools in the area were closed.
The recreational precinct on Kendalls Rd in Branyan was designated as an evacuation centre but authorities urged people to stay with family and friends if possible.
Premier David Crisafulli said the gauge upstream at Walla had reached 19 metres yesterday afternoon, a key indicator of the impact to come for Bundaberg.
“There will be a large number of homes that will be impacted overnight into the early hours of tomorrow,” Crisafulli said.
“If you get a message from authorities, if somebody knocks on your door, if you can seek shelter with friends and family at higher ground if you are one of those properties that is below 7.5 metres, that is good advice that should be heeded.”
He said 30 additional police, as well as other emergency services and rescue teams had been tasked to the region to help local crews.
“Yes, there will be challenges but this is a really mighty community,” he said.
“To see the impacts of (the 2013 flood) and the way that people mobilised shows me everything I need to know about this community.
“This event won’t be as big as 2013 but I bet you the response and the compassion and the ticker of this community will be just as big and they’ve proven it time and time again.
“There are people who will be impacted in the next 24 hours that it might be the fourth time in 15 years and yet they respond in the true Queensland way.”
The catchment has been smashed with heavy rain since Friday morning, brought on by a tropical low moving over the state which has now mostly contracted offshore.
The Wide Bay and Burnett region has copped the brunt of the heavy rain in recent days, however the Burnett seems to have been spared property inundation, Crisafulli said.
“The peak in Gayndah and Mundubberah was just below impacting homes,” he said.
Most of Queensland on flood watch
Widespread flooding is either occurring or possible in much of Queensland.
An emergency alert was issued this afternoon for people in low-lying areas of Chinchilla to prepare to leave as Charley’s Creek is expected to reach the major flood level of 6m this afternoon and continue rising.
An emergency alert was also issued for people in the vicinity of Cooranga Creek, also in the Western Downs region, which is experiencing moderate flooding.
An enhanced image created by Weatherzone shows the widespread slow-moving rain storms that has left much of the state wet or saturated.
Crisafulli said there were 760 roads impacted across the state, including many that had suffered significant damage.
Early reports suggest there have been at least 1000 livestock lost as well as significant crop losses and damage to agricultural communities, particularly near Gympie.
Crisafulli said water was still travelling through flooded river systems across the state, and some regions had not yet received the bulk of the water.
“To the south west of the state, we still haven’t seen the peak for many of those communitites,” he said.
“Towns like Bedourie are still isolated and it’s still gonna be some time before the bulk of that water comes through the Georgina and the Ayr (rivers) and it shows you how big south-west Queensland is and the challenges they face.”
Authorities beg drivers to stay out of floodwater
Crisafulli thanked rescue crews for putting their lives at risk to save others, regardless of how they got into the dangerous situations.
The boy was pulled through the window of the sedan by a police officer before the driver, a 54-year-old man was also helped from the vehicle, and fined for driving without due care and attention.
An off-duty police officer was also rescued from the roof of her car at Peachester on the Sunshine Coast by swift water rescue teams.
In Gympie, a man spent four hours on the roof of his car, waiting for rescue, just 50 metres from where a 14-year-old girl lost her life in raging water in the 2022 flood.
“We’ve had a fair number of rescues,” Matthew Bruce from Queensland Fire and Rescue said.
“We really urge all people on the roads just to take extra care.
“It’s much safer to turn around, don’t drown.”
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