Significant flooding continues across much of Queensland, and a wet weekend is forecast for the east coast. Video by the Bureau of Meteorology on March 28, 12pm AEST.
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00:00Significant flooding continues across much of Queensland even as rain starts
00:04to increase along the east coast and it is going to be a wet weekend for much of
00:08eastern Australia with hazards increasing particularly about southeast
00:12New South Wales and parts of eastern Victoria. Let me take you through the
00:16details now starting with a look at our flood warning areas current at midday
00:20Eastern Standard Time on Friday. Now we've still got a number of major flood
00:25warnings in place for western and inland Queensland. Rain is still moving into the
00:29upper reaches of these catchments so some locations that have already seen a
00:33flood peak may expect another peak in the coming days or a prolonged peak
00:37above the moderate or major flood level. It's worth noting that we also have a
00:41major flood warning in place for the Pioneer River near Mackay after rapid
00:45river rises in the area in the overnight period. Minor flood warnings have also
00:49been issued for parts of southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales
00:52as rain starts to develop in those areas. Looking at our flood watch areas now
00:57we've still got flood watches in place for parts of northwestern Queensland and
01:01southern inland Queensland too. Flood watches tell us where flooding is
01:05possibly going to develop in the coming days as rain continues to fall. It's
01:09worth noting that through the remainder of today we may see additions to these
01:13flood watch areas particularly through parts of eastern southern and southeast
01:17Queensland parts of northeast New South Wales as well including the northern
01:20rivers. Rain is starting to increase in these areas and we may possibly see
01:25further river rises leading to additional flood watches and warnings
01:29over the coming days. So exactly how will things play out through the rest of
01:33today and over the weekend? Today we're going to see this inland low-pressure
01:38trough continuing to direct moisture into areas of rain showers and
01:42thunderstorms. They'll impact much of Queensland including the southeast but
01:47finally starting to ease back across those southwestern parts of the state.
01:51Rain and thunderstorms will also impact parts of northern New South Wales
01:55particularly northern inland New South Wales today with patchier showers on the
01:59way for southern New South Wales and even parts of northern Victoria. Now the
02:04highest rainfall totals today are likely to accumulate across parts of southern
02:08inland Queensland and northern inland New South Wales. We're also likely to see
02:12some widespread moderate to locally heavy falls accumulating across parts of
02:16the central coast pushing down towards the southeast coast of Queensland too as
02:21onshore flow brings significant moisture into the area. Now for those inland areas
02:26we do still have a severe weather warning in place. It covers parts of
02:30southern inland Queensland and northern inland New South Wales and in that
02:33warning area we may see six hourly falls through the rest of today reaching as
02:37much as 50 millimetres possibly isolated six hourly falls to 75 millimetres. The
02:42Queensland part of this warning may be finalised a little bit later today as
02:46rain continues to push south into New South Wales but we're likely to see wet
02:50weather continuing across the New South Wales side of the border as thunderstorms
02:55develop through the afternoon as well. As we move into Saturday our low-pressure
03:00trough is going to direct the moisture further towards the east coast. That
03:04means a wet day is on the way for many of our eastern population centres
03:08including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong
03:13all looking at their wettest day on Saturday. You can see the showers, rain
03:17and storms streaming down the east coast there. As we move into the later part of
03:22Saturday we're likely to see a low-pressure system starting to develop
03:25along that low-pressure trough and it's likely to bring further impacts through
03:29the later part of Saturday and into Sunday particularly for parts of
03:32southeastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria. If we move into as we move into
03:38Sunday sorry we are going to see strong winds and rainfall continuing across
03:43parts of southern New South Wales and eastern Victoria. It's worth noting that
03:47those winds are likely to be strongest along the coastal fringe but may impact
03:51adjacent inland areas as well. We could also see some windy weather impacting
03:55the eastern ranges of Victoria and the southern Alps of New South Wales. These
03:59winds may push all the way up into the Illawarra and parts of the central coast
04:03as well but again have their strongest impacts for parts of the south coast.
04:07Rainfall as well is likely to continue across these areas through the course of
04:11Sunday with widespread falls in the range of 40 to 75 millimetres possible
04:16through those areas. As we move into the later part of Sunday and push towards
04:23Monday we're slowly going to see this coastal low-pressure system moving
04:27gradually away from the east coast. It's likely that windy and wet weather will
04:32continue across southeastern parts of New South Wales and eastern Victoria
04:36through the rest of the weekend into early next week and it won't be until
04:39late Monday into Tuesday that we start to see a more significant easing in
04:43conditions across the far southeast. It should also be noted that these strong
04:48winds are likely to generate large waves and dangerous coastal conditions across
04:52much of the southeast through the later part of this weekend into early next
04:56week so be on the lookout for any coastal wind warnings we may need to
05:00issue as well as any other dangerous surf or damaging surf warnings through
05:04those areas. This situation is continuing to develop, moving from the
05:11flooding risk in Queensland to a more localised risk of winds, large waves and
05:16rain through parts of the far southeast. It's imperative to stay on top of all of
05:20the changing warnings across this weekend and you can do that via the
05:24Bureau's website, the BOM Weather App or via our social media.