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Severe Brisbane Storm Stats

Source Weatherzone Sat 14 Mar 2026

Severe thunderstorms crossing southeast Queensland with a slow-moving trough on Friday 13th, brought heavy rainfall and flash flooding to the region, with some of the heaviest falls occurring over the Greater Brisbane area.  As mentioned in yesterday's story, the system was forecast to bring severe thunderstorms and hefty rain. Earlier in the day, heavy falls had already been recorded in northeastern NSW and inland southern Queensland. And as the system continued to etch towards the coast, lightning and heavy rain hit the state capital.  Approximately 1,500 lightning strikes were detected in the greater Brisbane area (50km radius around the city center), with around 12,000 strikes recorded across the state’s southeast.  Image: Detected lightning strikes in the 24 hours from midnight Fri 13th to midnight Sat 14th  The storms were slow-moving, meaning they brought significant rainfall, with the heaviest falls being to the southwest of the city near Greenbank, where 97.2mm was recorded. Widespread falls of 25-40mm were recorded from Tweed Heads to Bundaberg, with localised falls of 60-80mm from Albany Creek to Cooloolabin. Some recorded falls include:    Image: Recorded rainfall in the 24 hours to 9am AEST over southeast Qld  The system’s slow-moving nature and its early start inland, led to the flooding of rivers in the Northern Rivers, with the runoff expected to move into the southeast waterways. This also led to a rise in river levels across southeast Queensland yesterday, with continually rising river levels around the Pine area today. These river levels can be monitored on the Bureau of Meteorology site.   In the coming days heavy rainfall will become confined to the state’s north as a high pressure ridge develops and strengthens along the east coast. This will bring settled conditions to Queensland’s southeast and time for river levels to return to normal.  - Weatherzone © Weatherzone 2026