FLOOD WATCH: Coast dam overflows, Maroochy River swells
HEAVY rainfall in the Sunshine Coast hinterland during the past week with 120mm falling in an afternoon and a further 175mm since saw Wappa Dam overflow this morning with heavier rain still to come.
The dam sits in the headwaters of the South Maroochy River
Sunshine Coast Local Disaster Management Group co-ordinator Andrew Ryan said expectation was still strong of falls between 200-350mm tomorrow with the potential for up to 400mm in places.
He said a combination of a high tide Thursday night and a swollen Maroochy River would put pressure on Cotton Tree's storm water drainage system which could not clear adequately until the tide fell.
"There's a constrained flow of the storm water system," Mr Ryan said. "It's hard to drain until the tide drops away."
Michael Joyce of Cooloolabin said the hinterland has been drenched even before tomorrow's expected deluge arrived.
Mr Joyce, who has lived on the Sunshine Coast for more than the past 40 years said there was a lot of water in the system.
The former Maroochydore businessman said he expected in these conditions Bradman Avenue would be cut by floodwater.
"I don't know that we've had a weather event like this since the whole range of new estates went in downstream," he said.
"We've had a lot of rain already. We got five inches in an afternoon Tuesday week ago followed by another seven inches in the past week.
"It started raining again up here at 4am as a light drizzle and its heavy now (at 10.45am).
SEQwater spokesman Mike Foster said the impending deluge was ironic given it had only last Friday announced a Drought Plan for the Sunshine Coast.
"There will be localised flooding but the silver lining is that our drinking water storage will be topped up, not withstanding the havoc that will be caused," he said.
SEQwater issues an alert when water overflows a dam spillway as a warning that there may be debris flowing downstream.
