Queensland will be drenched today. Picture: BOM

Residents outside the Queensland town of Biloela are being urged to relocate as authorities issued an emergency alert for water levels at the Callide and Kroombit Dams.

Police say residents downstream should consider leaving “in case water releases are required”.

It comes as the heaviest downpour is expected to hit Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast shortly before peak hour on Thursday, creating a nightmare commute for those returning home from work.

The head of Queensland’s Fire and Emergency Services has warned no southeast Queensland is safe from the destructive aftermath of Cyclone Debbie set to lash the area this afternoon.

Speaking with ABC radio, QFES commissioner Katarina Carroll said the system was so large and widespread, no parts of Brisbane and its surrounding areas were any safer than others.

“Whether you’re on the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast or in north Brisbane or South Brisbane, we’re all going to be subjected to severe weather this afternoon,” she said.

Flooding has already begun and Queensland residents are scrambling for sandbags as they prepare for the deluge no one saw coming. Areas of the Gold Coast Hinterland have already had up to 412mm of rain in the past 24 hours with conditions to worsen over the coming 12 hours.

“The situation will get worse before it gets better,” Ms Carroll warned.

Rigby Wilshire wades through flood waters to get to his home on Longlands st at East Brisbane. Picture: Darren England.Source:News Corp Australia

The extreme weather event is the unexpected sting in ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie’s tail, and is expected to bring with it half a metre of rain that will leave Brisbane feeling like “a nightmare”.

Southeast Queensland is shutting down with rain becoming so severe Queensland authorities have made the unprecedented call to close all schools in the state’s southeast and everyone from Mackay to Brisbane and the Gold Coast has been told to go home.

That’s the startling advice from Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart as the remnants of catastrophic Cyclone Debbie move south, bringing heavy rainfall as far as Sydney today.

“The clear message from us today is do not underestimate the power and potential of this rainfall. This can’t be underestimated all down the eastern seaboard,” Mr Stewart said.

“We need to make sure we are taking action, strong action, now.”

A number of Queensland schools will stay closed on Friday, too, a move Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she “won’t apologise for”.

Southeast Queensland is shutting up shop after severe warnings.Source:News Corp Australia

Travel is delayed but free as Brisbane commuters rush home.Source:News Corp Australia

The damaging wind and rain comes to the state’s southeast as severe weather warnings are cancelled and the full extent of the destructive cyclone’s damage is being felt up north.

Emergency services workers have rescued about 40 stranded people, many off the roofs of houses and cars, after being trapped by floodwaters in and around cyclone-battered Mackay.

Queenslanders further south are being advised to stay home or leave work early and collect their children ahead of forecast falls of up to 500mm in some parts.

Though the extreme weather event’s peak is not until about 3pm AEST, Brisbane has already recorded a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours and residents have begun sandbagging their properties.

The Bureau of Meteorology has cancelled a severe thunderstorm warning for southeast Queensland, but a more general severe weather warning remains in place and more torrential rain is expected.

“The situation will continue to be monitored and further, more details Severe Thudnerstorm Warnings will be issued as necessary,” the BOM’s latest update read.

Parts of Brisbane are already flooded hours ahead of the storm’s peak. Blunder Rd Causeway at Durack Picture: Marc RobertsonSource:News Corp Australia

Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning at 11am AEST highlighting the danger zone.Source:Supplied

Locals were warned peak hour would be “a nightmare”.

“The other message for today is that peak hour will probably be a nightmare this afternoon, so if employees can be staggered in terms of being released from work to go home, that would be the best thing possible in terms of ensuring that our road network is not clogged up,” Deputy Premier Jackie Trad warned.

Some people are already ignoring warnings from authorities. Footage send to Channel 9 shows Gold Coasters riding jet skis around a flooded dog park.

Cars submerged at Robina Hospital on the Gold Coast. Picture: Nigel HallettSource:News Corp Australia

Queensland’s Minister for police fire and emergency Mark Ryan said warned road visibility would be low and driving conditions would be challenging.

“If you can avoid travelling on the road please do,” he said. “We don’t want to lose a Queenslander in this event.”

Residents all across southeast Queensland have also been told to make sure their mobile phones are charged, and mobile battery packs if they have them.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Matthew Bass said the heaviest rain in southeast Queensland was still to come.

“Brisbane has already seen over 100mm is some areas,” he said. “It does look like the heavy rain may just clear Brisbane by about midnight or the very early hours of the morning.”

Brisbane residents collect sandbags Newmarket, Brisbane. Picture: Mark CallejaSource:News Corp Australia

Commuters began making their way home from work as soon as they arrived in Brisbane’s CBD.Source:News Corp Australia

ALL SCHOOLS CLOSED

The Queensland government has taken the extraordinary step of closing all schools in Queensland between Agnes Waters and the New South Wales border.

The massive area stretches more than 600km down the state’s coast. More than 2000 schools and childcare facilities are affected. They will remain closed on Friday.

Dozens of schools in northern NSW have also been declared non-operational for Thursday and Friday.

Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad announced the last-minute decision just before 7.30am AEST on Thursday.

“The state disaster management committee has made the decision to close all schools in southeast Queensland between Agnes waters and the NSW border,” she said.

“We have made this decision based on updated forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology. We know that the heavy weather conditions currently being experienced in southeast Queensland will intensify throughout the day.”

Parents who had already taken their children to school were assured they would be looked after throughout the day and were urged to collect them before closing time if possible.

“If you have dropped off children, they will be cared for but please arrange to pick up your children earlier than the 3pm. School finish time. This includes independent schools and Catholic schools,” Ms Trad said.

“We don’t want parents to be — parents or children, to be on the road in this sort of weather. And that’s why we have taken the decision to close schools.”

The Deputy Premier also issued a warning that public transport could be closed down throughout the day, which could further complicate school pick-ups.

She assured: “We will care for everyone and make sure that nobody is left alone.”

A complete list of affected schools is available on the state’s Department of Education website.

Students at the University of Queensland have been advised to put their safety first. While the university is open students will not be penalised for missing class today, a representative said.

The Queensland University of Technology has provided similar advice, saying staff and students don’t need to come in.

In Brisbane, university and TAFE campuses were closing early, all the theme parks on the Gold Coast were shut and beaches along the entire south eastern coast from Mackay were also closed.

Virgin and Tiger Air flights into the Gold Coast are also to be cancelled from noon. Brisbane has already recorded a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours but the worst is yet to come, with authorities saying the heaviest falls will occur on Thursday afternoon and evening

WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart has admitted authorities don’t know how serious the effects of today’s deluge will be.

Following emergency meetings on Thursday morning, Mr Stewart said the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie was worse than anticipated.

“We had hoped that we had seen the last of Tropical Cyclone Debbie,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be a low, we knew it was going to track exactly the way it did, what the sting is, though, that the intensity has ramped up.”

Mr Stewart said Debbie’s unexpectedly powerful resurgence had resulted in “unprecedented” rain and flash flooding.

“That’s gong to continue right throughout today and it’s slowly going to move down to track into this southeast corner,” he said.

In Mackay, where flash flooding caused damage overnight, Mr Stewart said there had been a significant spike in 000 calls because people were in danger.

He urged people in the southeast to take precaution so that wouldn’t be repeated.

“They were caught out, so we don’t want that to happen,” he said.

When asked to estimate the damage rains would bring today and overnight, Mr Stewart said: “We just don’t know.”

A children's swing sits in flooded waters at a playground on the Gold Coast. Picture: Dave Hunt/AAPSource:AAP

Bowhill Rd is cut by fast flowing water at Durack. Picture: Marc RobertsonSource:News Corp Australia

People are being advised to avoid the roads. Picture: Marc RobertsonSource:News Corp Australia

BRISBANE

Sandbagging stations have been set up across Queensland’s capital with residents of the state’s most populous city warned to prepare for the worst.

Falls of up to 400mm or more across southeast Queensland will lash Brisbane in Cyclone Debbie’s wake.

Southeast Queensland can expect about a month’s worth of rain over the next 24 hours as ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie moves down the coast. “As the low tracks down the coast towards Brisbane we can expect falls of up to 200mm or more in southeast Queensland,” a BOM spokesman told AAP. The Darling Downs, Granite Belt and Wide Bay region can also expect a lashing. Police Commissioner Ian Stewart urged Queenslanders to stay inside and not to underestimate the dangers of the heavy rainfall.

“We saw what happened five or six years ago when we had the summer of disasters,” Commissioner Stewart said.

He encouraged parents to pick up their kids from school early before the worst of the rain hits. Education Queensland has closed all schools in the southeast of the state.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a flood watch warning for all coastal catchments between Hervey Bay and the NSW border. Picture: Bureau of MeteorologySource:Supplied

Unprecedented: Deputy Premier Jackie Trad announced all schools would be closed from Agnes Waters to the state’s southern border. Picture: Mark CallejaSource:News Corp Australia

Premier Palaszczuk has returned to Brisbane from the northern cyclone strike zone to meet with emergency services to plan for the state’s latest disaster.

The city’s is currently open and operational, but the Brisbane Airport Corporation has warned that the rain event has potential to interrupt scheduling, and travellers should expect delays and cancellations throughout the day.

TransLink has announced public transport in southeast Queensland will be free from 10am AEST.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the primary threat to the city was creek flooding.

He said fast rising water was likely to cut roads quickly, with the worst of the weather expected from about 3pm. Conditions are predicted to ease from 3am on Friday.

“Also we are going to see later tonight, and potentially later this afternoon, wind gusts of up to 100km/h,” he told reporters, and urged residents to secure items that could become projectiles.

He said the council had so far distributed 40,000 sandbags, and five depots were producing them at a rate of 4000 an hour.

Mr Quirk added some relief for residents who had been affected by river flooding in past events like the 2011 floods.

“If you are worried about river flooding, please to not get sandbags. This is not a river flooding event,” he said.

SOUTHEAST QUEENSLAND

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce very heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include the McPherson Range, Springbrook, Numinbah Valley, Little Nerang Dam, Tallebudgera and the area south of Canungra. 186mm in 3 hours has fallen at Numinbah.

Numinbah has already seen 287mm today and Springbrook on the Gold Coast has seen 237mm.

Disaster teams and dam ­operators are on high alert, swiftwater rescue reinforcements are arriving from interstate and sandbags are ready.

Senior meteorologist Matthew Bass from the Bureau of Meteorology said rainfall totals could exceed 400mm throughout the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

Mr Bass said rainfall and thunderstorms brought by ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie would hit Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast areas today, moving across the area tonight and offshore Friday morning.

Areas of the Gold Coast Hinterland have already been lashed with up to 130mm of rain in only three hours on Thursday.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for southeast Queensland and both Brisbane and Sydney are forecast to cop a drenching today as ex-Cyclone Debbie drags a humid tropical air mass south.

Officials say the Gold and Sunshine Coast hinterlands, where up to 650mm of rain has fallen already this month, again face the biggest soaking.

The southeast’s overall dam levels were at 71.7 per cent ­yesterday, but are set to rise substantially.

Some, like the Gold Coast’s Hinze Dam, were already spilling over after last week’s torrential rain and Seqwater said this week’s downpour could add several months’ water ­supply to the southeast.

The low pressure system is expected to move off the coast tomorrow morning as coastal areas prepare for big seas.

On the Gold Coast, classes have been cancelled at Griffith and Bond universities, and elective surgeries are cancelled at the Gold Coast University Hospital.

Dreamworld is also closed for the day.

The deluge will swamp much of Queensland.Source:The Courier-Mail

NEW SOUTH WALES

NSW residents can expect to be lashed by heavy rain in the afternoon as the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Debbie clash with a cold front. The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting heavy showers and flash flooding in the state’s northeast and damaging coastal winds north of Sydney on Thursday and Friday.

Residents in Lismore, Grafton, Coffs Harbour Glen Innes and Inverell will be dumped with most of the rain while Sydney, Gosford, Newcastle and Port Macquarie will be hit by damaging winds.

The Northern Rivers region can expect 100mm over a 24-hour period. Sydneysiders can expect showers to start on Thursday afternoon and continue into the evening with a maximum of 45 millimetres expected.

“It is likely that some locations will exceed more than 200mm,” the bureau said on Wednesday.

The showers will linger on Friday for Sydney but it won’t be as much as the previous day’s dumping, with about 6mm forecast.

CYCLONE DEBBIE’S DAMAGE UP NORTH

Emergency services workers are attempting to rescue about 50 stranded people, many off the roofs of houses and cars, after being trapped by floodwaters in and around cyclone-battered Mackay.

The majority, about 40, are awaiting rescue in the Homebush area, just southwest of Mackay, with swift water crews working to move them from the West Leagues Club.

It’s already been a stressful morning for frantic authorities with 38 swift water rescues completed overnight, including a heavily pregnant woman who was evacuated from a house in Homebush.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Katarina Carroll says she was moved to the Eton rural fire shed before being taken by helicopter to West Leagues Club.

Ms Carroll says rescue efforts are also underway to reach 11 people near Eton, in the Pioneer Valley, further west of low-lying Mackay.

“We have some 12 incidents currently taking place that we have got crews on the ground,” the QFES commissioner said on Wednesday morning.

She asked stranded people to be patient.

“We are definitely getting to you. We know where you are. We have got the helicopters working in that area, as well as swift water rescue and SES. Please be patient with us, we will get to you as soon as humanly possible.” Ms Carroll said some had to scramble onto the roofs of homes and cars to escape floodwaters.

“From about 9pm onwards, there was flash flooding particularly in that area, so we did have people up on the top level of their houses, reports of people on the roofs of their houses and roofs of their cars,” she said.

Aerial view of damage to Shute Harbour after cyclone Debbie. Must credit: 400ft Airlines. Picture: Liam Kidston.Source:News Corp Australia

Severe weather warnings have been cancelled across central and northern Queensland where the wrath of ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie has passed as it makes its way south.

Though the worst of the damage has been done, recovery efforts continue to be hampered by extreme weather.

Emergency workers said a dramatic rescue operation underway in the Pioneer Valley, west of cyclone-battered Mackay in north Queensland, is being hindered by bad weather.

A number of people remain stranded in flood waters near Mackay and authorities say they can’t yet say how bad the situation is.

“We saw a sudden increase in calls for service to emergency services. Our resources were deployed into the field. A number of rescues were undertaken and are still being undertaken,” Queensland police Deputy Commissioner Stephan Gollschewski told reporters.

“A number of people have been safely rescued, however, it continues. This is a very difficult operating environment. We do not have complete understanding of what is happening.” Two helicopters are involved in the rescue effort.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Katarina Carroll said there was concern for 20 to 30 people, including at Eton, on the Pioneer River. Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said there had also been rescues in Mackay overnight.

Ms Carroll said weather conditions were “horrendous” last night with very heavy rain and strong winds.

“Today we managed to get helicopters into the air. Communications have been extraordinarily difficult. While we are extremely confident that quite a few rescues have been made, we are going back, obviously, to see,” she said.

Long queues are seen at a supermarket as locals seek to replenish supplies when the store opens for the first time since Cyclone Debbie swept through Airlie Beach. Picture: Dan Peled/AAPSource:AAP

At Airlie Beach, locals are scrambling for supplies after Woolworths opened its doors for the first time since Cyclone Debbie descended on the coastal town.

Airlie Beach — one of the worst-affected areas — remains largely in lockdown as emergency services try to repair fallen power lines and roads following Cyclone Debbie.

Businesses will be unable to reopen until the power is reconnected. Two restaurants opened for brief periods on Wednesday to cook up meat and seafood that had to be used.

— with AAP