Storm-lashed regions get no rain respite

Gold Coast homeowner Andrew Breadmore was lucky to be out when a 30m gum tree split his home in Nerang. Photo / Gold Coast Bulletin

Violent storms that cut a devastating swathe through southeast Queensland and into New South Wales are expected to dump more rain into swollen rivers and hammer homes, roads and power supplies today.

Powerful winds and high seas are also expected to pound the eastern seaboard down to South Australia, and new fronts began striking Western Australia yesterday with thunderstorms, high winds and flash floods.

But while many Queensland dams reached their highest levels in years and rain soaked into drought-stricken plains, little benefit is expected to flow south into the dehydrated Murray-Darling basin.

The vast catchment, extending from Queensland to South Australia, accounts for more than 40 per cent of the value of Australian agricultural production, supports an A$10 billion manufacturing sector, and supplies water to hundreds of towns and cities, including Adelaide.

After a decade of drought, water flows are critically low - with little prospect of much improvement in the coming year - and new satellite data show that the crisis is even worse that previously thought.

Researchers at the James Cook and Australian National universities have found that in the past six years the basin has lost the equivalent of 400 Sydney Harbours.

A spokesman for the Murray Darling Basin Authority said yesterday that most of the rain was falling east of the Great Dividing Range and was flowing out to sea.

The rain that fell west of the range would soak into the Queensland floodplains. "There's nowhere near enough [to help the basin]," the spokesman said.

In Queensland, gale-force winds and the worst floods in 35 years killed one man, trapped dozens in their cars, cut power supplies, closed roads and brought down trees.

In Surfers Paradise, real estate agent Mark Bayliss was killed when 120 km/h winds rammed debris through his office window on Wednesday, more than 50 people were ferried to safety in rubber rafts near Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and more than 100 people were pulled from cars swept away by flash floods.

On the Gold Coast, massive seas have deeply eroded beaches and at Currumbin sucked a car from the surf club car park.

The worst of the storm hit Brisbane on Wednesday and the Gold Coast yesterday. Floods overflowed rivers throughout the southeast, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning that rain could continue today.

State Premier Anna Bligh, who declared a natural disaster and postponed a parliamentary sitting to fly over the stricken areas yesterday, said she was considering a text message emergency warning system for future disasters.

The State Emergency Service has been inundated with more than 2000 calls for help after trees fell on to houses, roofs were ripped from buildings, and power was cut to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

As the storm eased in Queensland yesterday, its fury moved across the border into northern New South Wales, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning that heavy rains, high winds and big waves were expected to continue until tomorrow.

Winds yesterday reached 130 km/h, more rivers were expected to flood, and extremely high tides were likely to erode beaches and inundate low-lying coastal areas, the bureau said.

Officials closed more than 200 state and private schools yesterday as winds gathered strength, evacuations began in the Tweed region, and trees fell across roads and power lines.

In Western Australia, severe weather warnings were yesterday issued for most of the state's southwest as storms pushed by a strong cold front moved up from the south.

KEEPING COUNT

* 62 swift water rescues in Queensland
* 1900 emergency calls for help
* 200 schools closed in the region
* 120 km/h winds on the Gold Coast

- AAP