Schools to close, residents urged to stay home as ‘unrelenting’ Queensland and NSW flood crisis continues

A severe weather warning is in place for southeast Queensland and areas in northern NSW as wild weather and dangerous flooding continues to severely impact large swathes of both states.

Seven people have died, with a search to resume on Monday for a man missing in floodwaters in Lismore, NSW.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said federal government support for communities affected by the floods was on the way.

“This is a serious natural … flooding event that we are seeing impact right throughout everywhere from Bundaberg to the border,” he said from Brisbane late on Sunday afternoon.

“All the way out to Toowoomba and particularly in places like Gympie, this is a very serious situation.”

With “a very anxious night” ahead for residents, the prime minister said he wanted to stress that “the planning for the recovery has already begun” and the resources and support needed were on hand.

He said the federal government would provide disaster recovery funding to affected local government areas as they were identified by Queensland authorities.

“I don’t want to see any more deaths. So please, please if you do not have to be out today, just stay at home, because this water is unrelenting at the moment,” she said.

“This is a very extreme weather event that we have at the moment.”

The premier expected there could be more around 1,430 homes across the city impacted as waters rose to over three metres.

Echoing Ms Palaszczuk’s concerns for public safety, Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll pleaded with people to stay off roads and out of the water.

“The issue here is that you aren’t just putting your own life at risk and other members of the public because even the members of the public are going out to conduct rescues, you are also risking emergency services.”

Flooding throughout Sunday heavily affected Gympie, Maryborough, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Brisbane.

Major flood warnings are in place for the Mary River, Mooloolah, Noosa and Maroochy rivers, Upper Brisbane and Stanley rivers, Laidley, Lockyer and Warrill creeks, as well as the Bremer and Logan rivers.

NSW Police will on Monday continue searching for a man believed to be missing after officers in Lismore head him calling out for help in floodwaters near Brewster and Uralba streets about 4pm on Sunday.

“Police lost sight of the man a short time later,” NSW Police said in statement.

“Police Rescue entered the water and searched the area; however, the man has not been located.”

The latest incident comes amid 11 flood warnings in northern NSW.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said an evacuation alert was in place for residents along the Clarence River near Maclean.

SES volunteers had affected 70 flood rescues since torrential rain began falling on Tuesday, the premier told reporters on Sunday morning.

“We know that whilst there might be blue skies in certain parts of NSW, that does not mean that there will not be significant flooding events that occur over the course of this week,” he said.

“So please, please, do not be complacent.”

The northern rivers and mid north coast regions were expected to see “widespread, high rainfall totals” exceeding 150mm on Sunday.

NSW Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke said there were 550 SES volunteers in the field and strong back-up plans in place.

“The SES is well supported by our other emergency services, organisations, including the RFS, where we have pre-positioned aircraft up on the far north coast,” she said.

“They’re able to respond to any incidents that arise up there. We also have fire and rescue, with both teams and appliances in the north of the state, again ready to respond the risk of flash flooding, heavy rainfall.”

Senior Bureau of Meteorology hydrologist Ailsa Schofield said there was the potential, as the monster system moves south, for up to 250mm of rain in some areas.

“We won’t start to see the rainfall ease until tomorrow (Monday),” she said.

“What this means for communities is that there is very serious and life-threatening flash flooding and riverine flooding likely.

“We have a number of flood warnings current from minor, moderate and up to major flooding.”

There five catchments affected are the Tweed, Wilsons, Richmond, Clarence and Arara rivers.

The communities of Tombolgin, Lismore, Grafton, Coots Crossing, Kyogle and Coraki have major flood warnings forecast from Sunday or for Monday.

Ms Schofield said it was possible the system could reach southern NSW by Wednesday.

One NSW life has already been claimed, with a man killed when his LandCruiser was carried away by local floodwaters on the Central Coast, north of Sydney, on Friday.

Meanwhile, communities affected by severe storms and floods across NSW in February and March last year will receive an additional $200 million in a jointly funded commonwealth-state support package.