Australia Weather News

Alec Smith and Tammy Hansen were prepared for ferocious wind and destructive storms from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, but they were not expecting a "torrential downpour" to flood their home. 

The Hervey Bay couple and their two young children were having breakfast on Sunday morning when their patio roof bowed and collapsed under the weight of the rain.

"It was scary," Mr Smith said. 

"We've been here locally for a long time and never experienced anything like this."

He said the family, friends and neighbours had spent the day "ripping everything out of the house".

"It's ruined a lot of our furniture, our kids' toys — basically 90 per cent of the things we own," Mr Smith said.

Ms Hansen said it was "heartbreaking".

"It's the house we bought the kids home in," she said.

"You just don't expect it." 

The community had little warning of the flooding.

Mayor George Seymour said the lack of a notice from the Bureau of Meteorology about Sunday's deluge meant it caught Hervey Bay by surprise.

"We had been in the cyclone watch area and we had been in the severe weather warning a few days earlier, but at the time that this happened we weren't," he said.

"I imagine the Bureau of Meteorology will do a review into this situation."

He said he was not "assigning blame" but there were "lessons to be learnt" from the situation.

Christie Johnston from the Bureau of Meteorology said the intense rainfall was expected but predicting the location was challenging.

"We knew that there was a risk, but picking exactly where that was going to set up and how far north it would extend was going to be tricky," she said.

"So it was both expected and also a surprise, because we knew it was a risk somewhere but picking exactly where is always tricky."

The deluge broke records for the region, Ms Johnston said.

About 300 millimetres of rain fell within two hours from 5am on Sunday, causing widespread flash flooding and power outages across the Fraser Coast.

An emergency declaration was issued under the Public Safety Preservation Act.

Hervey Bay law firm director Sarah Smith said while there was not much warning about the event, she did not know how the weather bureau would have predicted that level of flooding.

"We got roughly under a foot of water throughout the whole building," she said.

"I think everyone is just doing the best they can."

'Extraordinary event'

Cr Seymour said the council was still assessing the damage.

"Fire and emergency services are assessing over 1,600 properties and the SES had over 400 calls," he said.

"This has been an extraordinary event, but we are moving into the recovery phase."

Those efforts will be boosted by Australian Defence Force personnel.

Police and Emergency Services Minister Dan Purdie said it had been "a tough 24 hours" for Hervey Bay.

He urged residents to stay off the roads and said it was "totally unacceptable" to put first responders at risk.

He said there were 18 rescues in Hervey Bay during the past 24 hours, eight of those from vehicles.

The council is also asking people to save water, after floodwaters damaged a major pump station at Urraween. 

Residents witness 'wall of water'

Hervey Bay business owner Joe Minnegal said he was "absolutely stunned" by the amount of water that came through the his shop.

"I've been in this office since 2001 and I've seen floodwaters go through there … but I've never seen anything like it," he said.

"It was just a comedy of errors. High tide, unbelievable rain, all at once."

Hervey Bay state MP David Lee said dozens of aged care residents were moved to higher ground at 5:30am on Sunday.

"A lifestyle village with 80 homes, they were hit with an estimated 1 metre wall of water which knocked over the walls surrounding the village," he said.

Resident Kim White said the storm was the worst weather event he had experienced in 37 years of living in the town.

Mr White recorded 363mm of rain in the rain gauge at his home in Eli Waters, one of the worst impacted suburbs.

"It was unbelievable. It was just like the continual running of a jet motor and the gutters were so full it was like living in a waterfall," he said.

"We have had storms and cyclones but nothing anywhere near what this was like."