While the extended dry spell continues for much of New Zealand spare a thought for our Aussie neighbours on the east coast as wind and rain doesn’t seem to be letting up.

Australian rescue teams have saved 16 children after their bus was trapped by flash flooding in southern Brisbane yesterday in a huge storm dumping heavy rain.The bus became stranded between two parts of a road that were rapidly flooding.
Three crews including swift-water technicians used inflatable boats to ferry the children to safety.

The storm was expected to dump up to 200 millimetres of rain on parts of the state’s southeast into the early hours of this morning.Torrential rain between Brisbane and Bundaberg may cause flash flooding over the next 12 hours.

Flooding rains cause fatality

A Sunshine Coast man has died trying to cross a flooded road at Kilcoy, north of Brisbane, as heavy rain continues across south-east Queensland.
Emergency services were called to Mary Smokes Creek Road late yesterday after a person witnessed a vehicle sinking in flood waters.A short time later, police retrieved the body of a man in his 70s.

Further north at Pomona, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, authorities are still searching for a woman who is missing after abandoning her car near a flooded causeway.

Rusty gains strength

Tropical Cyclone Rusty is generating intense rain and wind over northwest Western Australia. A low pressure trough is combining with humid onshore winds to bring heavy rain and storms from central Queensland to northern New South Wales. 

Brisbane is forecast to be on the receiving end of heavy showers this week with a chance of up to another 70 millimetres of rain before the weekend arrives.

Sydney could also be in the firing line again this week with the chance of further downpours following last weekend’s outbreak

WeatherWatch.co.nz