Australia Weather News

Queensland has made a "step towards recovery", with all emergency alerts now cancelled as rainfall eases and rivers recede, the state's premier says.

Emergency alerts in New South Wales have also all been dropped. 

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the threat of heavy rainfall had lessened. 

"With that comes the step towards recovery and that is why it is so important we are here today. 

"We are determined to make sure there is zero daylight between response and recovery."

Mr Crisafulli said rain totals for last week showed the "magnitude" of the deluge. 

On the Gold Coast, Upper Springbrook had 1,146 millimetres, Tallebudgera 835mm and Coolangatta 475mm.

North Stradbroke received 522mm, Redlands 513mm,  Brisbane city 475mm, Nambour on the Sunshine Coast 352mm and Ipswich 332mm. 

Two water treatment plants — Kenilworth and Dayboro — are currently offline.

Buses back, many schools return

In Queensland 121 schools remain closed while 97 are shut in NSW.

Brisbane commuters reported long delays on Tuesday morning, but the council is hoping things will run more smoothly tomorrow.

"I am absolutely determined to push to get transport services up and running tomorrow morning on a normal Wednesday timetable," Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said today.

He said he is still waiting on advice about when it will be safe for CityCat ferry services to resume.

"At this point I don't foresee us operating before the end of the week," he said.

"The reality is there is a significant amount of debris floating down the river, large logs that could impact and potentially impact or sink a vessel."

Warrego Highway reopens

Meanwhile, major road connections have reopened. 

The Warrego Highway has reopened at Glenore Grove after flooding cut the road early Monday.

The Cunningham Highway, between Brisbane and Warwick, is also open again. 

More than 112,000 homes and businesses are without power as of this afternoon, including more than 44,000 on the Gold Coast and nearly 20,000 in Redlands. 

The Bremer River at Ipswich peaked at 11.7m at midnight — just below the major flood level — and is currently easing.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior forecaster Sarah Scully said catchments are expected to stay at major flood levels for the coming days.

Ms Scully said Warrill Creek at Amberley was yet to peak but was not expected to ease until tomorrow.

"There is a number of catchments that will remain at the major flood level and slowly, slowly eases and that water gets away," Ms Scully said.

Major flooding continues to ease on along the Logan River at Beaudesert, in the Scenic Rim, while moderate flooding continues to ease along the Albert River at Wolffdene and Beenleigh, in Logan.

Much of south-east Queensland woke up to clearing skies on Tuesday morning, as Ms Scully said showers are expected across much of the region. 

She said rainfall totals of between 10 to 30mm were expected for the Brisbane region.

"So, sort of those afternoon and overnight storms, rather than that persistent rain associated with the trough or ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred," she said.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said it felt like the city had "dodged a bullet" — and although some homes have been impacted — she urged families to return to normal when they could.

"I think it's really important that people get back to normal life as soon as possible," she said.

Gold Coast beaches to be restored

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, who viewed the coastline from a helicopter yesterday, said the city has a plan to repair the beaches before the Easter holidays in April.

"Eighty per cent of our beach has gone into the ocean, but there's a solution for that," he said.

Staff are currently working to make the most heavily impacted beaches safe, he said, and heavy machinery is scheduled to repair the vertical scarping, allowing beachgoers easier access.

A sand pumping barge will begin dredging sand in the ocean and "shoot it" towards the beaches in about a week, Mr Tate said.

A similar barge was used on the Gold Coast in 2017, pumping 3million cubic metres of sand close to shore to protect beaches from severe weather events.