Australia hit by 'rain bomb' as flooding death toll rises

Heavy rain has battered Queensland and New South Wales for most of this week

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  Vehicles stuck on a street as floodwaters submerge the city of Gympie, in Australia. Getty Images

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  People play on a waterlogged street in Maroochydore, Queensland state. Getty Images

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  Australia's Queensland state and other regions have experienced several days of intense rain, with flooding expected to continue. Getty Images

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  A father and his daughter watch people take to floodwaters in their boat in Logan, south of Brisbane. Getty Images

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  People walk in the rain past a sign warning the public about a road closure due to flooding, in Logan. EPA

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  A partially submerged house in Ipswich, Queensland. EPA

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  A car is towed from a flooded road in Oxley. EPA

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  A car stuck in floodwaters near Lismore, New South Wales. EPA

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  A woman takes pictures of the overflowing Parramatta river in Sydney. AFP

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  A lorry moves through a flooded road in Brisbane, Australia. AFP

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  Intense rains and flash floods have affected Brisbane and other parts of the region. AFP

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  Residents walk past a flooded creek in the Cannon Hill suburb of Brisbane. AFP

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  A closed road sign at the flooded Bulimba Creek at Cannon Hill. AFP

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  Floods inundate roads in Rocklea, Brisbane. AFP

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  Resident Jai Connors fishes in rising floodwater from the swollen Bremer river in front of his home in the city of Ipswich. AFP

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  A man looks at floodwaters from the balcony of his home in West Ipswich. AFP

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  Flash floods have cut off many roads in the region. Emergency services have been carrying out rescues in various areas. AFP

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  A resident watches floodwaters from his house in Ipswich. EPA

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  People walk in rain near a flooded road in the city of Logan. EPA

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  Residents look at floodwaters from the balcony of their home in West Ipswich. AFP

A severe storm system pummelled Australia's eastern city of Brisbane on Sunday, leading to evacuations, power cuts and school closures as the death toll from accompanying flash floods climbed to seven.

More than 1,400 homes in the capital of Queensland were at risk of flooding while more than 28,000 homes were without power across the state, as pristine beaches on the Gold and Sunshine coasts, which are key tourist attractions, all closed.

Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Adrian Schrinner, described the weather system as a "rain bomb above south-east Queensland".

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pleaded with people living in Brisbane to stay home as the weather system moved south into major residential areas.

It's just coming down in buckets

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk

"We never expected this rain," she said. "This rain bomb is just really, you know, it's unrelenting ... It's just coming down in buckets."

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has issued flood warnings for vast parts of Queensland and northern New South Wales, with more than 300 millimetres falling in some areas in the past 24 hours.

More than 100 schools across south-east Queensland will be closed on Monday. State rescue services said they received 100 requests an hour for help in recent days.

Among the people killed in the flooding were a 34-year-old man who tried to swim to safety after the waters submerged his car, and another whose vehicle was swept away in the neighbouring state of New South Wales. Police continue to search for a man in his 70s who fell into the Brisbane River on Friday.

About 700 people were asked to leave the city of Gympie in Queensland on Saturday after the Mary River system surged beyond 22.06 metres to create the town's worst flood since the 1880s.

Huge downpours have battered eastern Australia for the better part of a week. Meteorologists said the deluge and thunderstorms would continue through Monday, before starting to ease off in Queensland, but moving south to New South Wales, where some communities at risk in its north-east have been told to leave.

The risk of riverine and flash flooding was "very real over coming days", said Steph Cooke, the Emergency Services Minister in New South Wales.