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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Elle Hunt (now) and Christopher Knaus (earlier)

NSW flooding sees five areas declared disaster zones after ex-cyclone Debbie – as it happened

Lismore floods as authorities warn worst is yet to come

Damage assessments have been carried out in north Queensland and the extent of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Debbie is becoming apparent – but for the flooding further south and towards NSW, it remains to be seen.

A news story wrapping today’s events is embedded below, and of course we will continue to report on the recovery effort as it unfolds over the coming days and weeks.

But for now, it’s good evening from me, and for those of you in the affected communities, stay safe.

Updated

A dozen cars in Beenlegh, south of Brisbane, spent most of the day submerged in a brown tide as floodwaters raised the Albert river to dangerous levels.

Local tyre shop owner Barry Berg recognised one vehicle as that of a regular customer, made a quick phone call to get permission to smash a window, and then pulled it clear of the water with the help of staff.

“We had to pull it out twice, the water was coming up that quickly,” he told AAP. “We got here at 7.30am and the cars were under by about 8.30am.”

Queensland MP Shannon Fentiman, whose home at Waterford was under threat of flood damage, was spotted at a local cafe buying a cake for a little girl who was spending her birthday in a nearby evacuation centre.

It was a dose of reality on an unreal day for people living along the Albert and Logan rivers, which look set to continue to swell.

Updated

Friday end-of-day summary

As we’re about to wrap up our rolling coverage, here’s a summary of today’s events.

  • Tens of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes in the past 24 hours as flooding has worsened in northern New South Wales
  • The federal and state governments have announced natural disaster assistance will be made available for those in the Ballina, Byron, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed regions
  • Lismore, Chinderah and Murwillumbah were among the worst hit. In Lismore, the levee breached, inundating the town
  • Major flood warnings remain active for the Tweed river, the Wilsons river at Lismore, and the Richmond river
  • Swollen rivers in southern and central Queensland are expected to pose a threat for several days
  • About 65,000 southeast properties were still without power shortly before 2pm
  • More than 210 homes and 100 more properties in low-lying areas of Logan could be flooded as the Albert River level continued to rise
  • Bom recorded extraordinary rainfall across the southeast of Queensland with falls of more than 800mm in the Gold Coast hinterland in 48 hours
  • Further north, about 2000 damage assessments have been carried out with 270 properties found to have been rendered unliveable by Cyclone Debbie
  • Generators and almost 20,000 litres of drinking water were delivered to Airlie Beach

Updated

Much of our attention has been focused on northern NSW, but it is possible the situation could worsen in south-east Queensland this afternoon.

AAP has just reported that more than 300 properties – including more than 200 homes – in low-lying areas of Logan could be swamped by the Albert and Logan rivers.

Logan mayor Luke Smith said flood modelling for low-lying areas along the Albert River was changing by the hour and 211 more homes in the area were expected to go under.

“The Albert River has increased and is continuing to increase much to our surprise,” he said. “We are seeing roads cut off even more and we are seeing heavier inundation than predicted.”

He said the river was at an “unprecedented state” and the authorities were now waiting to see what that meant for localised flooding.

The Logan River had almost reached its predicted peak for midday on Saturday and was staying higher for a lot longer than expected, Smith said. “It actually could rise above the Waterford Bridge on Logan River Road.”

Updated

From AAP:

Several flood-affected northern NSW towns have been declared natural disaster zones after hundreds of residents fled inundated homes and nearby rivers peaked.

Several towns in the state’s north have been affected by the deluge caused by the remnants of ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie – including Murwillumbah, Chinderah and Kyogle – with the Wilsons, Richmond and Tweed rivers peaking.

The federal and state governments announced natural disaster assistance would be available for those in the Ballina, Byron, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed regions.

“We are committed to ensuring those impacted by flooding have the support they need to recover and rebuild, and will extend assistance to other areas if required,” NSW emergency services minister Troy Grant said in a statement.

About 20,000 people have been ordered to evacuate in northern NSW – although many in Lismore have remained in their homes – and 10,000 homes and business are without power.

Updated

SES assistant commissioner Mark Morrow had said at that press conference with the NSW premier and emergency services minister that there had been around 260 calls for help made in the state, and the danger had not yet passed.

“The biggest risk is now that the sun is shining and the sky is blue, people in those areas are thinking that it is now safe to go about their business and the fact is, it is not. If you do not need to go out, then don’t.

“Schools are closed; make sure that you know what your kids are up to. As we have seen in the last couple of weeks, there have been some tragedies where kids have been playing in the water.

“To tell you the truth, I have seen disgusting footage today of people being dragged around behind vehicles on wake boards, thinking it is fun. It is not, it is serious. For our volunteers, it is too much of a risk.

“We are today trying to catch up with that and trying to find out whether there are people out there requiring assistance ... It may be some days before people are able to access their properties again.”

Updated

Lismore resident Rebecca Newton went to bed at 1am on Friday and woke two hours later to find 30cm of water lapping at the couches on the ground floor of her home.

“I’ve got four-wheel-drives out the front and you just can’t see their tyres anymore,” she told AAP. “A lot of the cars had parked along our road as they thought it was the highest point, so they’re all under now.”

The daycare rooms on the bottom storey of her North Lismore home are ruined and her in-laws’ nearby rental property is “completely under” after water rushed in from the river at an astonishing speed.

Central Lismore resident Lennon Bartlett, 26, said the flood is “easily one of the biggest” he’s seen, with the floodwaters were halfway up the front steps of his parents’ property on Friday.

“If we get any more rain we’ll definitely be looking at water in our lounge room, and our house is off the ground.”

But as cabin fever quickly set in, Bartlett piled his four- and six-year-old nephews into a motorless boat and set off rowing down the street.

Grant is expanding on the implications of those natural disaster declarations.

“There are different categories of disaster arrangements between the state and the federal government. The ones that has been declared today speak mostly to public infrastructure – the ability to have assessments done on public roadways, the damage to infrastructure, and those sorts of things. Individuals also have access to funding once those assessments are done.

“That can obviously never happen until the flood damage has been assessed and a full-scale assessment is able to be undertaken ... We have heard from experts from right across government, even mental health right, through to agriculture and people at organisations and councils, that are guiding how best to deal with the situation.”

Updated

Natural disaster declared in five areas

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, and the police minister, Troy Grant, are addressing the media.

Berejiklian says 10,000 people are without power in the state, and the Tweed area and that around Lismore are of the most concern.

“I just want to thank the people who are trying very hard in very trying circumstances ... but also to ensure that everybody heeds our messages: do not do anything that is even remotely risky.”

Grant says natural disaster declarations have been made for five local areas:

  • Tweed LGA
  • Lismore
  • Byron
  • Richmond Valley
  • Kyogle and Ballina

“Those communities can be assured that vital infrastructure has been impacted in that area and arrangements have been made,” he says.

Updated

Check out this image from inside a home in Lismore.

Lucy Pembroke, a resident of south-east Lismore, who is now at home with her pets, told the ABC by phone that she had chosen to remain in the town because she was caught short by the rapid deluge.

“Everything that I own, everything that I have, is in my home. I could not go to the evacuation areas because the water came on very quickly. I had a cat that does not get on well with people, and I just thought it would be safer to stay here.

“Everyone I know was blocked off.”

The water levels outside her home were at window-height, she told the ABC. She has been unable to call friends and family. “The water coming out at the moment is dirty. The power is on at the moment, [but] has gone off a few times.”

Almost all of her family’s business was submerged. “We have all of our machinery and supplies, but pretty much everything we own is under ... I don’t know where to start, to be honest.”

Lismore has not yet been formally declared a disaster zone but that announcement is expected.

Updated

WIRES wildlife rescue just shared this image of a coastal carpet python, rescued today in Lismore. “It was discovered fast asleep up high on shelving after a tasty meal. It was blissfully unaware that the water was rising around him.”

The snake handler said the reptile was “having a good sleep” and would remain in WIRES’ care until the weather cleared.

All ground dwelling creatures will be looking for dry ground at the moment. Please call WIRES for help should you feel threatened by a snake or come across any other native animal that may be in an unusual place or in trouble, it is just seeking shelter and safety.

WIRES is only a phone call away, in the area of Lismore, Byron Bay, Kyogle and Richmond Valley please call the local rescue line 6628 1898 for help and advice.

Updated

Lismore floods as authorities warn worst is yet to come

And more from Lismore.

Scenes from Tumbulgum, in the Tweed Shire local government area of northern NSW.

The ABC’s Candice Prosser has said water levels in Beenleigh, in the Queensland city of Logan, continue to be of concern. The Albert and Logan rivers are thought to have peaked about midday, but even though the weather is drier, there’s still a risk of flash flooding and residents are being urged to move to higher ground.

“If roads are blocked by water, do not attempt to drive through it. We are still hearing a lot of things about people driving through floodwaters. There have been images posted on social media of people jet skiing through flooded waters and driving through [them] ... which the authorities are just saying is so disappointing, given the severity of the situation.”

Updated

Live Life Pharmacy manager Karen Milostic cried when she walked into one of her stores in Airlie Beach. It reopened only six months ago following extensive renovations to reduce damage caused by bad weather.

“The shop had been flooded twice before,” she told AAP.

Milostic said although the damage from Cyclone Debbie was less, two of the three shops would need to be redone.

“This is going to take months,” she said. “But you’ve got to get on with it.”

Updated

Lismore to be declared disaster zone – reports

Water is overflowing Lismore’s levee bank for the first time, peaking at 11.55m, and will continue to hit the city’s CBD at least until late Friday afternoon.

The levee overflow was moving at 3m per second, Lismore mayor Isaac Smith told AAP. “That will pick up a truck and throw it around.”

The mayor said it is likely the area will be declared a natural disaster zone, and local MP Thomas George has contacted the Berejiklian government to get that confirmed.

“It’s a bigger flood than we’ve had in a couple of decades so we’re sincerely hoping for that [declaration] ... so that we can get the recovery happening as soon as possible,” the mayor told AAP.

The Lismore Northern Star just reported that the declaration was imminent:

“Lismore City, Tweed Shire, Byron Shire, Ballina Shire, Kyogle Shire and Richmond Valley councils have been put forward as in urgent need of support, by the local state MPs, to the NSW emergency services minister Troy Grant ...

“The State and Federal Government are expected to jointly decide on a combination of disaster relief arrangements for those affected, through emergency Centrelink payments, payments to non-profits and to councils for damaged infrastructure.”

Smith told AAP that while Lismore was a “flood” town, some haven’t faced such a big flooding in decades. “We just haven’t been in this situation before. It’s an unprecedented flood.”

About 220 people spent the night sleeping at an evacuation centre at the Lismore Southern Cross University campus following heavy rain.

Updated

NSW SES has just issued a major flood bulletin for Seagulls Estate and Banora Point, advising that if you’re in those areas, it is now too late to leave.

There are 20 current warnings across the state, with up-to-date information here.

Residents are advised:

  • Seek refuge on higher ground or in the highest part of a sturdy building
  • Where possible, check on elderly and less mobile neighbours
  • Consider your own safety when deciding to assist others
  • Turn off the electricity and gas
  • Never drive ride or walk through floodwater

The Tweed river at Murwillumbah peaked slightly higher than the 1954 flood early this morning. The flood at Chinderah is expected to peak slightly higher than the 1974 flood early this afternoon.

Updated

Power is slowly being restored to petrol stations and other essential services at Airlie Beach. Generators were brought in on trucks this morning to help the community, left without power since the early hours of Tuesday. The army also arrived with 20,000 litres of drinking water.

Ergon Energy’s Brett Judge told AAP the generators would be used to connect essential services including sewerage treatment plants, petrol stations, hospitals and supermarkets. “That sort of work is a priority.”

Judge said road access to Airlie Beach had hampered efforts to restore power but now the issue was power lines being immersed in mud. “They are moving as quickly as they can as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

Council workers have shut off the main shopping strip to attend to the fallen trees and dirt strewn over the road, while some business owners have returned to their shops to start cleaning up the damage.

Updated

An ABC journalist has reported from Chinderah, where roads are cut off by flooding. Levels of the Tweed river were rising and expected to peak at two metres this afternoon.

He said that the water was “waist-deep” in some areas: “We have seen rescue after rescue from the SES for residents who decided to stay overnight but [found the water rose] too quickly.

“One lady we saw earlier had a prosthetic leg and needed to be taken out in a kayak.”

He was not aware of people trapped but said an island of cars parked on higher ground were at imminent risk of being flooded. SES swift-water experts were checking on residents caught on the back foot by the rapid rise in the water levels.

“Many locals who have been here for decades said they haven’t seen anything like it.”

Updated

The Northern Star has published dramatic images of emergency services rescuing a man from flood waters in Lismore. The local SES deputy controller Amanda Vidler, said it was one of the “most technical flood rescues” carried out today.

“I am expecting over the next five days we will still be very busy.”

Up to three-metre water flows are expected through central properties in Lismore today, AAP reports. At 4.15am, a siren sounded for the first time in 12 years to warn that water had spilled over the 10.6-metre levee. The level was expected to reach 11.5 metres later today.

About 20,000 people have been subjected to immediate evacuation orders on NSW’s far north coast because of flooding. There have been 1,400 calls to the SES made since Wednesday night, and more than 102 flood rescues so far.

Updated

The rain has stopped but much of Lismore remains under water.

Updated

Good afternoon, all. I’m taking over the blog from Christopher Knaus, who just gave the rundown of flooding in Queensland and New South Wales. This photo, tweeted by the Network Ten journalist Daniel Sutton from the Lismore Square shopping centre carpark, paints quite an evocative picture of the challenge ahead.

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Services commissioner, Katarina Carroll, tweeted this morning that it had been an “incredibly busy 24 hours” for emergency services in both states, and not yet over.

“We have an extraordinary task ahead.”

Updated

What we know so far

In Queensland, major flooding is affecting the areas around Logan, south of Brisbane, and north of the Gold Coast. Flooding is also occurring in the Scenic Rim region. The Albert and Logan rivers are flooded, as are a number of tributaries to the Brisbane river.

  • Roads and causeways have been destroyed across the south-east of the state, residents left stranded, and properties flooded
  • Up to 60 Gold Coast homes were expected to be swamped by rising flood waters during the afternoon. Police have been evacuating residents throughout the day
  • Low-lying suburbs in the Logan city council area, near the Albert and Logan rivers, are subject to evacuation orders
  • A staggering amount of rain fell on south-east Queensland overnight. In the Upper Springbrook, south of the Gold Coast, 789mm was recorded
  • More than 90,000 homes were left without power in the south-east alone
  • Recovery efforts are continuing further north in the Whitsunday and Mackay regions. The army has reached Airlie Beach and nearby areas, and is providing water and food supplies.

In New South Wales, the Wilsons and Tweed rivers have flooded. The situation is most serious in Lismore, Murwillumbah and Chinderah, and surrounding regions.

  • Lismore’s protective levee failed to keep the flood waters from the Wilsons river out. The town is almost completely inundated. Residents are trapped, and authorities fear lives may have been been lost.
  • Up to 20,000 people were ordered to evacuate in Lismore but many remained.
  • Flood waters are thought to have peaked in Lismore this morning but emergency services may need to use high-volume pumps to bring water levels down.
  • In Murwillumbah, the flooding of the Tweed river has inundated homes. Emergency services are stretched and unable to respond quickly to calls to rescue trapped residents. The river level peaked there this morning but the water is receding slowly.
  • Chinderah, at the river mouth of the Tweed, is already flooded, but the flood waters will continue to rise until early this afternoon.

I’m going to hand over to my colleague Elle Hunt now, who will keep you updated throughout the afternoon.

Updated

Yatala Pies, a landmark just off the Pacific Highway, is an island in the flood waters. This is just near the Albert river, which is flooded. Nearby residents have been urged to seek higher ground, if possible.

Updated

And there we have it. We’ve hit the snake, shark, spider trifecta. Great work, Australia.

Updated

This is how the Bremer river, near Ipswich in Queensland, looks right now.

Updated

Water treatment plants in the Scenic Rim area of south-east Queensland are offline. Residents are being urged to conserve tap water and use it only for drinking, not cleaning up.

Scenic Rim’s mayor, Greg Christensen, surveyed the flooding in a helicopter on Friday morning and said there was major inundation across most of the low-lying areas around Beaudesert and Boonah.

“Do not use your tap water for cleaning up after this event,” he told ABC radio. “Please only use your tap water for drinking and basic personal hygiene.

“Put off the washing for a few days. Everything you can do to put off using that water will be priceless to our community.”

Updated

In Lismore, emergency services say they may need to use high-volume pumps to get the water out of the city centre.

“The problem with the catchment or levee areas behind the banks in Lismore, because it is backfilled we might to engage high-volume pumps to pump it out of the CBD,” said the NSW SES deputy commissioner, Mark Morrow.

“With going from a high tide to a low tide, hopefully the Tweed river catchment will start to drain and we will see the catchments recede this afternoon.”

Lennon Bartlett rows through the McDonald’s drive-through in central Lismore on Friday
Lennon Bartlett rows through the McDonald’s drive-through in central Lismore on Friday. Photograph: Dave Hunt/EPA
Michael Barnes of Rotorwing Helicopters took this shot of the flooding in Lismore
Michael Barnes of Rotorwing Helicopters took this shot of the flooding in Lismore

Updated

Residents remain trapped by flood waters in Murwillumbah in the far north of NSW. The Tweed river there is falling slowly after peaking about 6.20 metres at 4.30am this morning.

Residents row a boat down a street in South Murwillumbah on Friday
Residents row a boat down a street in South Murwillumbah on Friday. Photograph: Jason O'Brien/Getty Images
Debris over the road in South Murwillumbah
Debris over the road in South Murwillumbah. Photograph: Jason O'Brien/Getty Images

Fingal Head, at the river’s mouth, is flooded. The river will peak there in the early afternoon.

Updated

Just a reminder on the evacuations north of the Gold Coast. Police will be knocking on doors and urging people to leave from Quinns Hill Road east, Rossmans Road, Wohlsen Road, Zipfs Road, Bruckner Road, Cooks Road and Rotary Park Road.

Residents there should flee to higher ground.

Updated

An update on the situation in NSW, where the Tweed river has flooded at Murwillumbah, and further towards the coast at Chinderah. Rivers have peaked further inland but will not do so at the river’s mouth until later on Friday evening.

The State Emergency Services deputy commissioner, Mark Morrow, says people remain trapped by the flood waters in Murwillumbah and emergency workers are having a hard time rescuing them. Their swift-water rescue teams are being stretched by the number of requests for help.

“It is a very technical job to do, a very complex and dangerous job, so resources are trying to catch up on what they couldn’t get to last night,” Morrow has just told the ABC.

“We are trying to get our resources to respond to those emergencies as quickly as we can, and all the emergency services partners are working with us to try to get to those and we are prioritising those in terms of threat to life first.”

An ABC reporter, Ruby Cornish, has just posted this vision of Murwillumbah from the air.

Updated

A kitten has been plucked from the flood waters in Lismore. Lucy Langtry, a local Prime7 reporter, just tweeted this rather lovely vision.

Updated

Some pretty extraordinary amateur vision of Lismore has been posted on YouTube. Streets have turned to rivers, properties are inundated and cars are submerged. As we mentioned before, the town’s protective levee was unable to hold back the flood.

Updated

We had a bull shark in the floodwaters near Ayr in north Queensland on Thursday. Now the Channel Nine presenter and journalist Tom Steinfort has discovered a snake.

I honestly don’t know which is more terrifying.

Updated

The flood warning has been updated for the Tweed river. Major flooding is occurring at Murwillumbah, where the Tweed peaked slightly higher than the 1954 flood early on Friday morning.

The Tweed is also flooding downriver at Chinderah, where the peak is expected early on Friday afternoon. Forecasters expect the river to reach levels not seen at Chinderah for 40 years.

Up to 740mm of rainfall was recorded in the 24 hours to 2am on Friday in the middle and upper reaches of the Tweed river valley.

Updated

The Bruce Highway in Queensland is now open south of Proserpine, in the Whitsunday region. Debris and flooding had cut off the highway for several days. Check the latest road closures on the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ website.

Updated

Aerial shots of the flooding in Lismore are beginning to emerge. There are very real concerns that lives have been lost in the town. Floodwaters are still rising and expected to peak in the early afternoon.

AAP has just filed this report on the situation in Airlie Beach, where the army has arrived to replenish dwindling supplies:

The army has brought thousands of litres of much-needed drinking water to cyclone-affected residents at Airlie Beach. Two tanks and a truck, chock full of jerry cans, drove into the north Queensland town on Friday morning to distribute almost 20,000 litres of water.

Young Kim is one of thousands of residents who has been without power and running water since Cyclone Debbie tore through the town on Tuesday. Kim said he arrived early to secure his supply after he heard about the army’s arrival on social media.

“This was really good news,” he told AAP.

Kim said he had about another two days of drinking water left at home, but the water from the army would be used for washing and in the bathroom.

The road between Airlie Beach and nearby Shute Harbour has been shut off as the damage to cyclone-ravaged towns is assessed.

Access to the area has also been hampered by flights cancelled into nearby Proserpine airport, while Virgin isn’t taking any more guests to Hamilton Island.

Ten-year-old Chad Allan and his mother Chloe collect drinking water from an army tanker in Airlie Beach on Friday
Ten-year-old Chad Allan and his mother Chloe collect drinking water from an army tanker in Airlie Beach on Friday. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

Updated

The flood waters are cutting off roads and destroying causeways. The John Muntz Causeway on the Tamborine-Oxenford Road, west of the Gold Coast, has been swept away.

Updated

AAP has more detail about the evacuations on the far north coast of NSW, where about 20,000 people have been told to leave before flood waters peak in coming hours.

Residents have been told to leave from the following areas:

  • Tweed Heads South, Tweed Heads West and Tweed Heads (9,700 people)
  • Central Lismore, and North and South Lismore (4,550 + businesses)
  • Chinderah, Kingscliff, Fingal Head and Bilambil (2,100)
  • Billinudgel, Ocean Shores and New Brighton (1,430)
  • South Murwillumbah, Condong and Tumbulgum (1,140)
  • Murwillumbah and East Murwillumbah (750)
  • Kyogle (200)
Houses along the Tweed river as flood waters rise on Thursday in Murwillumbah
Houses along the Tweed river as flood waters rise on Thursday in Murwillumbah. Photograph: Jason O'Brien/Getty Images

Updated

On the north Queensland coast, residents are still without power, days after Cyclone Debbie made landfall.

The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says 50,000 people in the Bowen, Mackay and Whitsunday regions are still without power.

In the state’s south-east, 90,000 customers are without power.

The cyclone and associated storm damaged 630 power lines.

Some areas on the state’s north coast are running out of water and Palaszczuk said the army was doing “everything it can” to get them fresh supplies. Images emerging from Airlie Beach show that water is reaching at least some of the affected areas.

Locals collect drinking water from an army tanker in Airlie Beach on Friday.

A bushwalker is still missing in the Lamington national park but there have otherwise been only five reports of injuries, one of which was serious.

Updated

The Bureau of Meteorology says the risk of flooding in central Brisbane today or tonight is minor. Meteorologists expect flooding in the city to be a “nuisance” only. The outlook over the next few days is described as benign. Winds will die down.

The Fitzroy river and its tributaries may see some flooding next week, meteorologists say.

Meanwhile, dams continue to spill across Queensland. The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said water would not be released from Wivenhoe, Somerset or North Pine dams.

“That is good news for people who may have had some concerns about those issues,” she said.

Updated

Logan and Gold Coast councils warn of looming floods

Logan city and Gold Coast city councils have issued warnings for residents in low-lying areas. They are being asked to move to higher ground. Those huge dumps across the state overnight are flooding the Albert and Logan rivers in Logan, to the south of Brisbane. The town of Beenleigh is right between both rivers, and that’s where the flood waters are expected to hit hardest.

The Gold Coast council has issued an evacuation order for Stapylton, Jacobs Well and Norwell Road. Residents there should evacuate now.

The Queensland police commissioner, Ian Stewart, said the warnings should not be ignored. “They are urgent alerts and we have asked the community to take them seriously,” he said.

“As the premier said, this emergency is not over yet, and we are dealing with flooding.”

Updated

The high tide in Lismore is due at 1pm. That is expected to make an already bad situation worse for the city’s 25,000 residents.

The NSW State Emergency Service deputy commissioner, Mark Morrow, said the floods could be more severe than those of 2001 and 2005. The 2005 floods resulted in the installation of the city’s protective levee, which has failed to keep today’s flood waters at bay.

“What that means to people listening this morning is that most of the businesses in the Lismore CBD will have up to three metres of water over the floor,” Morrow said.

“Evacuation orders are in place. They’re there for a reason. It’s for people’s health and safety … take our advice and move out of that area.”

Images are continuing to emerge from Lismore, as residents continue to evacuate.

Lismore floods
Lismore floods
Lismore floods

Updated

South-east Queensland has copped an absolute drenching. Each of the red dots on this map represents a rainfall of 100mm or more. The Bureau of Meteorology says the mountainous Upper Springbrook area, south of the Gold Coast, recorded a staggering 789mm.

The skies may be blue but a warning is still current for destructive wind gusts in the south-east and dangerous surf conditions along the coast south of Sandy Cape. Abnormally high tides are expected along the Gold Coast beaches.

Updated

The NSW State Emergency Service deputy commissioner, Mark Morrow, has warned that Lismore is extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. River levels will take between six to eights hours to start receding there, and emergency services may not be able to access the city for 24 hours, he said.

“It is not a spectacular sightseeing expedition,” he told the ABC. “In fact it is a very dangerous part of town to be in.”

Morrow said the SES couldn’t get its four helicopters in the air because of dangerous winds. That means its staff are being forced to use roads, where possible, and boats to conduct rescues.

Concerns are highest for the Wilsons river near Lismore, and the Tweed river, which is continuing to rise. “It was still rising through a low tide, which was very concerning,” Morrow said.

The worst was yet to come, he said.

“Even though the rivers are being called as peaking at certain levels, the problem with levees is until they fill up inside the area to the height of the river – you will see increases in height in pockets around different areas,” he said. “So the worst is still to come in the next 12 hours.”

There are evacuation centres in Lismore, Kingsgrove, the Tate, Murwillumbah Sacred Heart Catholic church and Ocean Shores country club.

“Our preference is that you go to friends or relatives and get out of that area as quickly as you can.”

Lismore flooding
Flooding in central Lismore. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

Updated

The remnants of ex-Cyclone Debbie have been pushed out to sea. This image was taken by a Japanese weather satellite last night, about 8pm AEDT.

Satellite image

Updated

Spare a thought for emergency services in Queensland, who have been going non-stop since before Cyclone Debbie hit the north of the state on Tuesday. There has been little respite in the past 24 hours as the cyclone’s remnants, now a tropical low, moved to the south-east, bringing torrential rain, damaging winds and dangerous surf. On Thursday alone emergency services saved the lives of more than 85 people stuck in flood waters in Queensland.

Updated

Local residents Christie and Haleigh McIntyre watch on as the Logan River floods near Beaudesert, south of Brisbane.

Flooding pic
Flooding pic

Evacuations at Beaudesert, south of Brisbane

Evacuations are also taking place in and around Beaudesert, to Brisbane’s south. Heavy rain is expected to swell the Logan River to record levels today. The Queensland State Emergency Service is reportedly at Beaudesert, rescuing dozens of people.

Residents are being urged to get to higher ground.

Updated

Meanwhile, clear skies have returned to Brisbane after a turbulent day and night on Thursday.

But police are warnings that rivers are still rising across Queensland’s south-east. Authorities are warning of flooding of the Bremer river, which runs through Ipswich. It is expected to reach 11.7 metres in the morning and 14 metres in the afternoon.

Updated

Lismore, to some extent, was caught off guard last night. Flood waters are expected to peak in the early afternoon and will stay high for about a day.

The Lismore mayor, Isaac Smith, has warned that the city faces an unprecedented emergency.

Smith said the city’s protective levee had never failed before but water was now running over the top of it. As we mentioned earlier, there continue to be fears for the levee’s structural integrity.

“It’s never happened, 12 years now the levee’s stood there and kept out major and minor floods,” Smith said. “A lot of people here are just a bit concerned about how it’s going to go, but we honestly don’t know.”

He said the amount of rain that fell on Thursday hadn’t been seen for 30 to 40 years. “Locals with a bit of knowledge might have seen it coming, but everyone’s been caught quite unawares.”

Flooding in Lismore
Lismore is flooded after the Wilsons river breached its banks early Friday. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

Updated

Here’s the latest information on river heights in northern NSW from the Bureau of Meteorology.

The Wilsons river near Lismore is at 11.42 metres and rising. The Richmond river is particularly swollen at at Kyogle and is rising at several points.

Latest river heights

Meanwhile, the Tweed river has risen to record levels.

Updated

The situation in Lismore and northern NSW is extremely dangerous. The floodwaters are expected to rise to three metres in central Lismore today.

The city’s 10.6-metre levee overflowed early this morning and there are fears for its structural integrity. Lismore’s flood evacuation siren sounded for the first time in 12 years about 4am.

There have been 1,400 calls for help in northern NSW, and more than 100 flood rescues, including 60 overnight.

About 6,000 people have been evacuated from the region. Flooding has affected some 20,000 people.

A severe weather warning remains in place for destructive winds, heavy rain, abnormally high tides and damaging surf in the northern rivers, and parts of the mid north coast, the Hunter, the metropolitan region, the north-west slopes and plains and the northern tablelands.

Flood warnings are current for the Tweed, Wilsons, Orara, Upper Macintyre, Bogan, Bellinger and Brunswick rivers and Marshalls creek.

Evacuation warnings have been issued for South Murwillumbah, Condong and Tumbulgum, Chinderah, Kingscliff, Fingal Head, Lismore, North and South Lismore, Tweed Heads South, Tweed Heads West, Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah and East Kyogle, Billinudgel, Ocean Shores, New Brighton.

Lismore flooding
Lismore is seen flooded after the Wilsons River breached its banks early on Friday. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

Updated

Fears for people's lives as SES unable to reach all calls for help

Good morning,

The cyclone formerly known as Debbie has turned into a storm which has dumped up to 500mm of rain on south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales. The levee at Lismore started overflowing at 4am while people in Kyogle, Tweed Heads and Ocean Shores were also told to evacuate overnight.

There are fears for people’s lives after the NSW State Emergency Service received 130 calls for help but was unable to reach them at all.

“We expect this morning that as we start to go out and try to find people that made those calls overnight, there could be some very distressing news,” said the acting deputy commissioner of the NSW State Emergency Service, Mark Morrow.

“There could be people overnight that perished in that flood – we don’t know at this stage.

“We’ll get out there as soon as we can in daylight with aerial assets as well – helicopters – and we’ll try and find those people that made calls to us last night and help them this morning.”

We’ll continue to bring you developments from the region as they happen this morning.

Updated

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