Senior meteorologist Christie Johnson, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the heaviest rainfalls today were “actually falling over the ocean”, but this would change as the storm moved inland.
On land, the highest rainfalls since 9am were over Queensland, especially the Gold Coast and hinterland.
“Most of the rainfall has been north of the border and that’s because Alfred moved a little bit further north … to Bribie Island,” she said.
There had been about 60 millimetres of rain in the Springbrook area, about 50 millimetres at Mount Glorious inland from Brisbane and about 40 millimetres in the Moreton Islands.
The heaviest rainfall in NSW today was between Grafton and Dorrigo – more Mid North Coast than Northern Rivers, though Mullumbimby had about 40 millimetres since 9am.
An isolated weather station at Lowanna in the Coffs hinterland recorded 100 millimetres, but had not yet been quality-controlled, Johnson said.
Grafton had about 50 millimetres since 9am, while just south of Grafton had 60-70 millimetres. Dorrigo had another 50 millimetres, which Johnson said came on top of 750 millimetres over the past few days.
Bellingen lies downstream from Dorrigo and the Bellinger River is prone to flooding. Some Bellingen residents on social media described today’s rain as “typical March weather” and suggested a beat-up.
However, Johnson said the tropical low was a significant weather event and tomorrow could actually be the wettest day in Bellingen and many other places, with the rainfall and flood risk continuing into early next week.
“It is only just starting really from a flooding perspective because … for many places [Sunday] is going to be the wettest day, or maybe even into the start of next week,” she said.
“A lot of people might be thinking ‘oh there’s not too much rain yet’, but the rivers are swollen, the catchments are wet, the ground is wet, and we’re expecting significant rainfall over the next 48 hours or so, so significant flood impacts are still to come and very, very likely.”
