Three people, including a child have died in floodwaters in Caboolture, north of Brisbane as damaging winds and heavy rainfall lash south-east Queensland.
A man believed to be in his 70’s, a woman in her 30’s and an 8-year-old boy were killed as their 4WD car was swept away by flood waters on Dances Road around 5.30pm, police say.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk confirmed the deaths.
She said the area had received 333mm of rainfall since morning and 277mm fell within just three hours in the afternoon.
Police later announced that another 4WD was washed away nearby with three on board - the driver, 49-year-old man was found dead in the morning and two passengers his 21-year-old daughter and a 16-year-old son had managed to escape the vehicle.
In a separate incident, a 75-year-old man was found dead after his sedan car was swept off Morayfield Road near Burpengary Creek about 8:30pm last night.
His 68-year-old wife, who was to clinging to a tree in flood waters, was rescued by the Swift Water Rescue team.
In April, a cyclonic storm battered Australia's east coast, including the Metropolitan, Mid North Coast, Hunter and Illawarra districts for three days, forcing the NSW government to declare a state of natural disaster in the Hunter Region.
