Sandbags have been distributed and the SES are on standby as up to 150mm of rain from former Cyclone Debbie is expected to hit Brisbane.
The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted 70 to 150mm of rain with heavy falls for Brisbane on Thursday and winds from 15 to 25 km/h in the morning, increasing to 25 to 40 km/h come late afternoon.
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Up to 500mm of rain will dump on south-east Queensland on Thursday in a major weather event, due to peak late in the afternoon. Nine News
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Don't go out: big storm coming
Up to 500mm of rain will dump on south-east Queensland on Thursday in a major weather event, due to peak late in the afternoon. Nine News
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the key concern for Brisbane was the intensity of rainfall.
"We can cope with a lot of rain, but it's a question of in what space of time that rainfall occurs," he said.
"Now our major concern in our city of course is creek flooding.
"Whilst in recent years the news has all been around river flooding... we need to be prepared and ready for creek flooding events, particularly if we get a lot of rain in a short space of time."
A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the heaviest falls were expected for the afternoon with rain to continue into the evening and then into Friday.
"It's still a rotating system, it's a fairly significant rain-bearing low... the heavier rain is going to be closer to the centre," he said.
Cr Quirk said about 1000 SES personnel at various depots around the city had been put on standby and would be ready to assist if required.
"Six inches or 150mm is a lot of rain. If it's steady rain throughout the day then we will be able to manage and manage very easily," he said.
"But if it becomes intense, heavy rainfalls that's when you get localised flooding occurring. So, we need to be prepared, we need to be ready.
"We don't have high tides in conjunction with it, so that's a blessing. But nonetheless we will just have to deal with what the weather conditions dish out to us."
Sandbags are available at:
- Darra - South Depot, 38 Shamrock Road
- Morningside - Balmoral Depot, 9 Redfern Street
- Newmarket - SES Depot, 66 Wilston Road
- Zillmere - North Depot, 33 Jennings Street