Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
AAP
AAP
National
Marty Silk

Man missing, many stranded in Qld floods

A man is still missing and many people remain cut off in southeast Queensland's deadly floods, with authorities concerned severe thunderstorms could bring further inundation.

Police are still searching for an elderly man who fell from a boat into the swollen Brisbane River near Breakfast Creek on Saturday afternoon.

Nine people have already died and thousands of homes and businesses have been ruined after a massive trough that dropped more than a metre of rain on many parts of the state's southeast over three days.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says people living in parts of western Brisbane and Logan remain cut off, with the defence force delivering food and medicine supplies to them by helicopter.

"We've had some isolated pockets, and we're getting food delivered there into Carana Downs and Mount Crosby," she said.

"I think there's some help with the ADF happening there, medical supplies are going into Bellbowrie."

The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of possible severe thunderstorms from Thursday afternoon dumping intense rain on already saturated catchments with the potential for more flash floods.

Premier Palaszczuk urged people to tune into their radios and other news outlets and read the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts.

"There is some concern about these very dangerous thunderstorms so we are not over this yet, we're not out of the woods," she said

"There's still some concern out there and if you could just please make sure that you are listening."

In Brisbane, the river has dropped to a minor-to-moderate flood level for the first time in two days, with 8000 people signing up to the 'mud army' to help the clean-up.

More than 17,500 homes and businesses in Brisbane, Gympie, Ipswich and Logan are believed to have been damaged by the widespread flooding, along with roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

There were 379 people in evacuation centres across the southeast on Wednesday, down from about 1150.

Earlier on Wednesday, the premier said the clean-up and repair bill could run "into the millions if not hitting the billion mark".

"I'm sick of these bad times," she told the Nine Network.

"We've had two years of the pandemic, now we've had floods across the entire southeast and up to Fraser Coast. We need a really good Easter."

Commonwealth and state disaster payments of up to $180 per person are available for most people hit by the floods, while all toll roads in the southeast will be free for drivers until Monday.

The premier said one silver lining from the disaster is that bridges rebuilt after the remnants of Cyclone Debbie hit Logan in 2017 have withstood these floods.

She said she believes in climate change, and that infrastructure and homes will need to be rebuilt to withstand more extreme weather.

"During during my time as premier I've seen and had to deal with more natural disasters than my predecessors," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"So we understand it's real, we understand that it does have an impact."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.