Worst since 2022: Weather alert fail as Brisbane cops 166mm dump

Brisbane was smashed in the early hours of Friday by some of the heaviest rainfalls since the devastating* 2022 floods. As 166mm totals continued to rise with the dawn, residents said they didn’t get a warning from the City Council until six hours after it was issued.

Brisbane City Council issued a severe weather alert at 1.53am Friday, but many residents reported not receiving the warning until after 8am.

In the alert, the Council warned of heavy falls in the city and its western suburbs that could lead to flash flooding*.

In another case, an East Brisbane resident reported flooding began in the suburb about 2am, but flooding alerts from Brisbane City Council didn’t get sent to residents until about 8am.

Leader of the Opposition*, Councillor Jared Cassidy, took aim at the reported delays, saying they “failed Brisbane”.

“It shouldn’t take five hours to get flood warnings out to residents,” he said.

“We are seeing a repeat of the poor response from the LNP* Council during the devastating floods in February 2022. It’s just not good enough.

“Lord Mayor* Adrian Schrinner has failed to learn from his mistakes and neglected* the residents of Brisbane when it comes to this unreliable weather alert system.”

Brisbane City Council was contacted over the delays some residents have experienced in receiving the alerts.

Forecaster* at The Bureau* Daniel Hayes said the deluge* brought some of the heaviest falls the region has seen since 2022.

“There could of course be flash flooding,” he said. “We are seeing some very heavy rainfall rates, it is looking like some of the heaviest rainfall really since the 2022 flooding.

“So, some significant rainfalls in places that obviously have already been impacted by heavy rainfall and other weather events this year, this season.”

During the most intense period of rainfall, the city recorded 85mm of rain in just two hours at 2.30am Friday, while Toowong copped 88mm in the two hours to 2.45am, and Rosalie received 98mm in three hours.

While other parts of South East Queensland appear to have experienced moderate falls of 10mm-23mm, Brisbane recorded 166mm of rain overnight, with the figure still rising and the downpour continuing into Friday.

Mr Hayes said the rain was triggered by an inland trough* lying through inland Queensland and a humid* air mass across most of the state east of that trough.

“That does include the southeast at the moment, so all together, the onshore flow*, the existing moist air mass and that upper level trough is bringing some very significant rainfalls, shower and thunderstorm activity through the southeast,” he said.

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GLOSSARY

• devastating: highly destructive and damaging
• flash flooding: fast-rising, fast-moving waters that can do huge damage and happen so quickly they catch people off-guard
• Leader of the Opposition: leader or principal member of the main party that is not in power
• LNP: Liberal National Party
• Lord Mayor: a political position in Australia, means constituents vote for people to take the position, Lord Mayor is the mayoral title in all the capital cities as well as Wollongong and Newcastle, both in NSW
• forecaster: weather forecasters are generally meteorologists whose job it is to predict what will happen
• The Bureau: the Bureau of Meteorology, better known as BOM, is Australia’s national weather, climate and water agency
• deluge: a large amount or volume of something, more than can be managed
• inland trough: located on the lee (inland) side of the Great Dividing Range, inland troughs form a boundary between the moist air near the coast and dry air inland
• humid: an atmosphere or climate that is very damp and usually very hot at the same time
• onshore flow: when air moves from sea to land

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QUICK QUIZ

1. What was the rainfall total by Friday morning?
2. When did Brisbane City Council issue the warning and when was it received?
3. Forecaster Daniel Hayes said the deluge brought some of the heaviest falls the region since what major event?
4. How much rain in how little time fell during the most intense period of the downpour?
5. What did Mr Hayes say triggered the deluge?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Words of warning
Clear and timely communication is incredibly important in times of emergency. Write a warning message that could be sent or broadcast to residents during an emergency situation. Your warning could be for a flood, like the one described in the story, or for another weather event or natural disaster.

Carefully consider the words that you will use – you want residents to take action to stay safe without being panicked.

You also want them to have enough information to understand the situation without having so much information that they become confused.

Compare your message with that of a classmate. Discuss the similarities and differences in your messages and the reasoning for your choices. Make any improvements that you think will make your messages clearer.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education

2. Extension
Brainstorm a list of all of the different ways that your message could be communicated so that it reaches as many residents as possible in a timely manner.

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education

VCOP ACTIVITY
I spy nouns
Nouns are places, names (of people and objects), and time (months or days of the week).

How many nouns can you find in the article?

Can you sort them into places, names and time?

Pick three nouns and add an adjective (describing word) to the nouns.