Statement on weather event and flooding

Published 30 January 2024

Attributed to City of Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery

Overnight, City of Moreton Bay received severe thunderstorms that have produced heavy and locally intense rainfall.

Intermittent and localised heavy rainfall is expected again today and tomorrow and will bring an increased risk of flash flooding.

With the catchment area already saturated, the rainfall overnight and today has caused flash flooding, road closures, livestock issues and landslides.

Samford, Bray Park and Caboolture South areas have been seriously impacted, with many other suburbs also suffering impacts to homes, roads and infrastructure.

Samford received 244mm of rainfall since midnight. There is a 0.05% chance of this happening annually, making the rainfall event in Samford extreme. Bray Park had 235mm since midnight and 275 mm was recorded at Bribie Island Road. These rainfall intensities far exceeded those experienced in these areas during the February 2022 severe weather and flooding event.

Unfolding now, the concern is the northern part of City of Moreton Bay especially the upper Caboolture River.

The City of Moreton Bay is currently in a response phase. This is a rapidly developing situation and our priority is the safety of our residents. We encourage people to view the Disaster Dashboard for up to date details.

Once the wet weather response is under control we will focus fully on the recovery phase, but our Moreton Recovery Group has already moved to start preparatory actions to understand the situation now. This situation is not over and will continue for weeks and months.

City of Moreton Bay Disaster Management teams and SES have been active since last night supporting impacted residents with over 84 requests for assistance now received.

It is currently too difficult to assess the impact on infrastructure in several areas including Samford due to road closures, but we are continuing to work to gain access and identify all impacts across our city.

Safety of residents is our prime concern. We encourage people to stay home - if it’s flooded forget it.

If people need to leave their home or workplace due to flooding, we advise going to family and friends first. City of Moreton Bay libraries are now open as places of refuge. Six (6) evacuation centres will open at approximately 2pm today to also support the needs of the community.

There are currently 1000 residents without power mostly in Morayfield and Bray Park. Eight houses are without power in Burpengary.

Over 10 swift water rescues occurred this morning in the Bray Park area.

City of Moreton Bay SES has requested assistance from Redlands and Brisbane SES for this afternoon.