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Soaked Queensland counts cost after deluge

Police drive through water covering a residential street the Gold Coast this morning. - ABC

South-east Queensland is counting the cost of its second major deluge in recent days, with falls of up to 100 millimetres per hour recorded this morning in both the Gold and Sunshine Coast regions.

Floodwaters have isolated some residents in the Gold Coast hinterland with some roads more than 1.5 metres under water.

More than 120 roads remain cut in the Moreton Bay and Sunshine Coast regions.

Flood warnings remain current for coastal streams between the Sunshine Coast and the New South Wales border, but the weather bureau's Michael Knepp says conditions have eased.

"We will still see showers in the south-east but they won't be as heavy as we have been having in the last three or four days," he said.



Brian Cox from Emergency Management Queensland says the State Emergency Service (SES) was overwhelmed with calls for help.

"This morning there's been over 650 calls, so emergency services are really flat out," he said.

Evacuation centres remain on stand-by at Woodford and Bribie Island, but Moreton Bay Mayor Allan Sutherland says everyone is breathing a sigh of relief.

"[In] many of the areas, the floodwaters are slowly receding, like Burpengary and Bribie, because the threat from the high tide has passed and the rain has eased," he said.

The D'Aguilar Highway remains cut at Kilcoy.

This morning a number of cars and homes were inundated on the southern end of the Gold Coast and in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Gold Coast resident Ian Farquhar cleaned the mud from his garage, but is wary of doing much more.

"Everyone's still got their furniture up - I don't think anyone's going to move things for a couple of days just to see how it goes," he said.

Some Gold Coast beaches were closed today, and debris washed down local waterways during heavy rain earlier this week has also created problems.

Heavy rain also delayed flights at the Gold Coast Airport.


- ABC

© ABC 2012

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