Rain to dampen city before temperatures plummet mid-week
Updated ,first published
Brisbane’s unseasonably wet weather is causing problems on the city’s rail lines; Trains are being stopped at two major stations due to flooding and passengers are being warned of long delays during rush hour.
Trains on the Cleveland, Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines do not pass through South Bank or South Brisbane stations due to signaling problems caused by flooding.
Buses have replaced trains on parts of the three train lines, while some services are operating as expresses via the Tennyson loop to bypass the affected tracks.
“There was a signaling issue caused by flooding between South Bank and South Brisbane stations at around 12.15pm,” a Queensland Rail spokesman said.
Trains on all three main lines were initially suspended between Roma Street and Yeerongpilly and between Roma Street and Cannon Hill, causing hours-long delays for passengers.
However, a Queensland Rail spokesman said trains would be routed via the Tennyson loop from 2.30pm.
This means trains on the Cleveland line run express from Roma Street to Buranda, while trains on the Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines run express from Roma Street to Rocklea.
Replacement buses run from Roma Street for passengers needing to access other stations including Park Road/Boggo Road, Dutton Park, Fairfield, Yeronga and Yeerongpilly.
“We were able to get the trains moving again via the Tennyson loop,” the spokesman said. “We have also assigned extra customer support staff to these key stations.
“Signal electricians are on site to find and fix the fault, but there is still some rain around and this will obviously affect the repair.”
Rain is expected to soak Brisbane for at least another day, making the brolly a necessary accessory.
However, warm doonas and bed socks will be more useful as the sky clears from mid-week and the insulating effect of the blanket cloud cover disappears.
The weather bureau predicts night temperatures will drop from Tuesday as the cloud belt over Brisbane dissipates.
Senior meteorologist Harry Clarke said weather in Brisbane would remain gloomy until Tuesday afternoon, with between 10 and 30 millimeters of rain expected in the city.
“There are higher than expected falls, particularly towards the Gold Coast hinterland… it will reach 50, maybe even 100 millimeters tomorrow when this is said and done,” he said.
“This isn’t a torrential rain, it’s more moderate but it’s definitely the heaviest rain we’ve had in a while.”
Cloud cover has an insulating effect at night, keeping night temperatures relatively warm, Clarke said.
“Once this system clears Tuesday evening and Wednesday, we will have cooler, drier southwest winds behind us, so we will see a return to mostly sunny conditions,” Clarke said.
However, night temperatures may drop to single digits.
A band of clouds forming over Brisbane on Monday, stretching from the Kimberly region in Western Australia to the southern NSW coast, was bringing rain to much of the south-east and parts of western Queensland.
He said “unseasonable” rainfall in western Queensland reached about 42 millimeters in the town of Windorah, 1200 kilometers northwest of Brisbane where it was hit. Due to flood in March.
Last week’s wet weather in Brisbane dropped a total of 33 millimeters of rain, with nearly half of that falling on Friday (14.4 millimetres).
