A slow moving upper low in Western NSW, coupled with a strong high feeding moist NE winds into a deep trough on the East Coast of Australia provided the perfect setup for an extreme rainfall event in SE QLD and NE NSW, with heavy showers starting over the region on Monday the 27th of June. By Wednesday afternoon very heavy rainfall was occurring across the Northern Rivers and SE QLD coast and this continued right through the night into Thursday morning, when rain began to ease from around 10am onwards. Over a 48 hour period, falls of up to 500mm had been recorded in the Wilsons River catchment, leading to the issuing of a major flood warning for the Wilsons River at Lismore by early Thursday morning.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast a peak of around 10.4m, which traditionally would have flooded the Lismore Central Business District. However the completion of a new flood levee in Lismore in March 2005, which protects the CBD from floods up to around 10.8m, made this a unique major flooding experience. With no certainty over whether the peak would be higher than forecast, the NSW State Emergency Service called for the evacuation of the CBD as a precaution, along with the evacuation of North and South Lismore, which aren't protected by the new levee system. Fortunately, the heaviest falls during the rain event occurred in the Eastern half of the Wilsons catchment area, while the Western half saw totals of only around 100-200mm for a 48 hour period. This resulted in Leycester Creek, which meets the Wilsons River at Lismore, to contribute little volume of water in comparison to the Wilsons River. As a result, the floodwaters peaked at 10.2m at around 10pm on Thursday night, leaving the CBD safe from major flooding.


Click the map for a larger view of the floodplain

Moderate flooding was experienced downstream at Coraki and Bungawalbyn, while minor flooding occurred at Woodburn on the morning of the 2nd of July. While the rainfall event was extreme in the the totals that fell, their restriction to the coast prevented would could have been a devastating major flood in which the new levee system would have been overtopped.

Meanwhile, falls well over 500mm over a 48 hour period in the Brunswick River catchment led to the worst flooding since the 1974 flood at Billinudgel and Ocean Shores. In fact Mullumbimby recorded its wettest day in June since 1910, with 287mm recorded to 9am on the 30th of June. Homes and business were flooded in the area, towns isolated, along with blackouts lasting up to 2 days.

The story was even more extreme on the Gold Coast, where up to 500mm of rain fell in just 24 hours causing massive flash flooding right across the Gold Coast, resulting in some of the worst flooding in the area since 1974. Most of the Gold Coast came to a standstill on Thursday morning as many roads went underwater (including the Pacific Motorway and Gold Coast Highway), power was cut, businesses and homes flooded, and even the Gold Coast Airport shut down due to the runway going underwater. Sadly 2 people were killed when their vehicle was washed into the Coomera River by raging waters flowing over a bridge. The damage bill from the extreme event of the Gold Coast is expected to run into the millions.

Below are a collection of photos taken from around the Lismore region on Thursday afternoon, when major flooding occurred at Lismore. More photos and weather data to be added soon.

The following photos were taken around Lismore on Thursday. Thanks to the NSW SES for these photos.

During flood and normal river flows in Lismore. Photos by Michael Bath: