Alfred’s aftermath: wet and wild

Over 430mm recorded in hinterland deluge

By Sonia Isaacs and Kirra Livingstone

EX Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s aftermath has proved more damaging than its initial crossing with intense rainfall from the downgraded weather system resulting in flash flooding and continued storm warnings across the region earlier this week.
Schools were closed on Monday, while dozens of roads were flooded, trees uprooted and businesses shut, following 24 hour downpours exceeding 400mm in some parts of the hinterland.
Local government authorities warned that water flows would continue to fill rivers, creeks and drains, impacting local roads and bridges.
The more damaging impact of the weather system, which hit as a Category 1 on early Saturday morning, came in the form of rain and wind gusts in the days after.
In the 24 hours to Monday morning, Diamond Valley received 435 mm.
While in just 12 hours on Sunday evening, Woombye received 303mm, Mooloolah Valley 296mm and Palmwoods 284mm.
Nambour CBD roads were flooded after the hinterland town copped 267mm in just 12 hours, while Maleny received 224mm and Yandina 218mm.
SES workers across the hinterland were thanked for their work in the lead-up to what was the first cyclone to hit the south-east in 50 years.
SES volunteers worked tirelessly to ensure sandbags were provided for the community.
Sunshine Coast Council Local Disaster Management Group Coordinator, Bill Haddrill, said flood warnings were in place with the Hinterland experiencing localised flooding affecting Nambour, Palmwoods and Eudlo.
Glasshouse Country Disaster Management Network’s Natasha Odgers said the local community network had activated a number of venues on standby as part of their preparation.
While there had been some criticism about the warnings prior to Alfred hitting the coast, authorities said they couldn’t downplay the potential impact on the region.
“I understand there might have been some frustration in the community that we were over over-prepared, however the cyclone was incredibly erratic,” Division 1 Councillor, Jenny Broderick said.
“Overall the feedback I’ve had was that people have been grateful we were ready and prepared – and this preparation has helped us with this current rain event.
“I believe our community understood it was better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. The safety of our community is always our highest priority, and given the current situation with the localised flooding – it was not in vain.”
Division 5 Councillor, Winston Johnston, said it was a “damned if you do, damned if don’t” situation.
“It was much better to be prepared than to be caught unawares and in the end we really dodged a bullet when it came to the cyclonic winds,” he said.
“However the flooding rains on the back of this weather system we are seeing now are obviously a great concern – especially for our community in Eudlo, Mooloolah, Diamond Valley and Conondale.”
“Many people have never been through an experience of a cyclone – the last time we had something similar would have been around 1974 and it was pretty widespread destruction – we were right to take the threat seriously.”
Beerwah Coffee Club owner, Mark Blong, said while it was frustrating at having to close the cafe for an extended period, it was better to be safe than sorry.
“It was a crazy week, especially following all the emergency warnings and state agency’s advice … but nothing ended up happening for us,” he said.
“We were quite fortunate in that way, we opened Sunday, and today we’ve opened but unfortunately due to the flooding issue, we have had to close early.”
Member for Glass House, Andrew Powell said the State Government worked closely with councils to ensure all alerts, warnings and flood mapping information was provided to Queenslanders via emergency alerts and the disaster.qld.gov.au website as soon as it was available from the BOM.
“We thank Queenslanders for the preparation they did ahead of the wind, waves, rainfall and flooding and for keeping across the latest information as it was available,” Minister Powell said.
“As the focus shifts to recovery, we have the resources on the ground activate crews for washouts, removing fallen trees and clearing roads.”