Swept away in SEQ’s big wet

Police called an evacuation of Brisbane's Howard Smith Wharves and surrounds this afternoon as a pontoon carrying a crane broke free of its mooring in the Brisbane River. The 150-tonne crane was being used to build the Kangaroo Point Green Bridge, connecting the Stamford Plaza to Kangaroo Point. It was among the many scenes of destruction as Brisbane recorded its wettest three-day period in history. Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk saiod the city had withstood 611.6mm of rain between 9am Friday and 6pm Sunday. "Brisbane had an average of 780mm over five days – that’s two-thirds of what we would usually see in a year," she posted on social media. Ms Palaszczuk shared a video of the crane adrift in the Brisbane River HERE "This rainfall event has surpassed records dating back to 1840. It’s an incredible amount of rain," she said. "Even though the sun is shining again in Brisbane, rivers and creeks are still rising in many areas and remain very dangerous. Avoid sightseeing or entering flood water – for your own safety and the safety of our crews." With hundreds of roads closed across South East Queensland, including the Warrego Highway and Ipswich Motorway, access to a number of Brisbane suburbs remained cut late today. Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said Queensland Rail crews had been inspecting the rail network, discovering extensive damage to stations, track and overhead electrical wiring at a number of locations. “Queensland Rail services will remain suspended tomorrow (Tuesday) and possibly longer, due to extensive damage to the network,” Mr Bailey said. “A number of station buildings were inundated with water, landslips have damaged the tracks at multiple locations and areas of overhead power line are down. “Safety is paramount, so we will not be resuming train services until it is absolutely safe to do so.” The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) today extended the Insurance Catastrophe declaration made on Saturday for South-East Queensland to include areas of New South Wales impacted by this weather event. It said insurers had received almost 15,000 claims from policyholders related to extreme rainfall in both states in the past week. It was too soon to provide an estimate of claims costs given the event is still unfolding and claims are still being reported, the ICA said.

Swept away in SEQ’s big wet

Industry Queensland

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