Overview
- The Burnett River steadied around 7.35–7.4m on Wednesday morning, just under the 7.6m forecast, with the Tallon and Burnett bridges closed and about 10,000 residents cut off.
- Leave-immediately orders and door-knocks targeted low-lying parts of North, South, Central and East Bundaberg, with evacuation centres open and extra police and SES in place.
- Paradise Dam rose above 200% and continued spilling, with Sunwater citing peak outflows near 910,000 megalitres per day and warning multiple dams will keep passing water.
- Statewide impacts included nearly 800 roads cut, school closures, power outages and estimates of more than 1,000 livestock lost, even as heavier rain shifted offshore.
- Police launched a search for two missing tourists near Kilkivan after locating a vehicle without its occupants, while Chinchilla faced a separate emergency declaration as Charleys Creek headed for a major peak.