A severe storm in south-east Queensland on Thursday dropped more than 200mm of rain in three hours, causing flash flooding and hundreds of calls to the State Emergency Service, and far exceeding forecasts, SBS News reports.
Several weather stations north of Brisbane, in the Pine and Caboolture river catchments, recorded more than 300mm over 48 hours. Nambour on the Sunshine Coast reached 401mm for the month, beating its October record of 370.6mm, and Beerburrum also set a new October high.
The Bureau of Meteorology had forecast Thursday as the wettest day of the week but not the severity of the downpour. The bureau has faced other questions this week after false rain readings were traced to migrating Bogong moths.
University of Melbourne climate scientist Andrew King said small storms that deliver heavy rain remain hard to pinpoint, and experts said climate change was complicating forecasting.
Source: SBS News
