Severe storms hit Eastern Australia as emergency services put on alert

© Bureau of Meteorology
Storms pass over the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, heading south towards New South Wales on Friday. Reproduced with the permission of the Bureau of Meteorology.

    

South-east Queensland hit by a deluge, forcing events to be cancelled, and parts of northern NSW warned to expect damaging winds and heavy rainfall

The east coast low battering Queensland is moving south toward New South Wales, with heavy rain and dangerous winds set to hit the northern rivers, mid north Coast and northern tablelands over the weekend.

Queenslanders have been experiencing wind gusts in excess of 100km/hr and extreme flash flooding on Friday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (Bom).

The rugby league Anzac Test between Australia and New Zealand at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night has been postponed due to the bad weather.

The Australia-New Zealand Test will now be played on Sunday at 4pm, with the City-Country match going ahead at 2pm.

All tickets purchased for Friday's match will be valid for the rescheduled match, however those unable to attend will be given a full refund.

Rain had earlier forced organisers to call off the trans-Tasman curtain-raiser - the women's Test between Australia's Jillaroos and New Zealand's Kiwi Ferns - although that will now also be rescheduled for Sunday.

That east coast low is expected to cross the state border early on Saturday morning, when the rainfall in Queensland will begin to decrease and the focus will turn to NSW.

"We're going into the most intense period of rainfall in the next six to 12 hours [in NSW] and with that we'll also see those strong winds too," a Bom spokesman said on Friday afternoon.

Rainfall of around 150 to 200mm is expected for northern NSW during that time, with the possibility of localised falls of more than 350mm.

People living along the coast from the Queensland border as far south as Port Macquarie would be hit with the heaviest rain and strongest winds, with very heavy surf also predicted, according to a statement from the Bom.

The State Emergency Service (SES) said it was bracing itself for the impact. "We've moved a lot of resources up into the north of the state in the last few days," an SES spokeswoman said, adding they had already had about 300 calls related to the weather up there.

The SES said there were certainly concerns, considering the damage caused by the last east coast low, but they were prepared.

A particular concern is for the NSW Hunter region. Although the rainfall is only expected to be around 50mm by the time the weakened pressure system hits there, it could still be a headache for the SES.

"It's already very soaked there, so the rainfall they're looking at ... generally isn't that much, but on that already soaked catchment area in the rivers there, that could cause some more damage," she said.

"We've still got some outstanding jobs that our people have been working madly on for over a week now, so that is an area we're very concerned about seeing how it all pans out."

Thunderstorms are also possible along the NSW coast, as far south as the Illawarra region, which could result in localised heavy rainfall.

The SES asked people in NSW to prepare themselves by moving cars away from trees, staying away from flood waters and having their home prepared in case of power outages.

There should be an easing trend in the rain on Sunday morning, before a respite begins on Monday, with warm and sunny conditions predicted for next week.

Thunderstorms and heavy downpours hit south-east Queensland, earlier creating dangerous conditions for peak-hour traffic.

Motorists were being warned to drive carefully through the torrential rain and to be aware of rising floodwaters.

Thunderstorms, generated by a low system, were first detected near Caboolture, north of Brisbane, earlier Friday afternoon dumping up to 100mm of rain in an hour.

Train services have been suspended between Petrie and Caboolture because of water on the tracks, while there's minor flooding in low-level areas.

The wild weather forced the cancellation of the Urban Country Music festival, which was to feature Lee Kernaghan, Cloud Control and British India.

Festival organisers say the weather damaged the Caboolture site and there were safety concerns for the public.

Up to 200mm of rain has been recorded on the Sunshine Coast since Thursday and forecasters are expecting a total of up to 400mm in some areas.

The Bureau of Meteorology's latest forecast warns of damaging winds, heavy rainfall, abnormally high tides and dangerous surf in Wide Bay and Burnett, southeast coast, Darling Downs and granite belt districts.

The premier, Annastacia Palasczuk, said the government would remain in constant contact with the bureau and warned residents to be cautious on Friday night.

"Stay out of floodwaters, make sure you are safe, and once again can I stress to families if you do not have to go out this evening, stay indoors, and just enjoy the night at home," she said.

Australia has had its coolest April since 2006 but rainfall was still below average across the nation, despite heavy rain in NSW and South Australia.

April 2015 was 0.68C below the long-term national average - the coolest result since 2006 and the 18th-coolest since reliable records began in 1910.

Rainfall was 12% below average nationally even in the wake of the ferocious east coast low that battered NSW last week, a major cloud band that dumped rain across much of SA and southern NSW.