Former councillor and One Nation candidate found dead in floodwater

The man found dead in floodwater on Queensland’s Fraser Coast has been identified as a former local councillor and One Nation candidate.

James Hansen was found at Boompa on the Fraser Coast shortly after 11am, police said on Monday afternoon.

Hansen served on the Woocoo Shire Council from 2004 to 2008 before the amalgamation of the Fraser Coast Regional Council, where he served three terms from 2012 to 2024.

He was the One Nation candidate for Maryborough in the 2017 state election, and a well-known farmer in the region.

Fraser Coast mayor George Seymour said his thoughts were with Hansen’s family.

“As one of the region’s last dairy farmers, James had strong connections to our rural communities and was a passionate advocate for primary producers,” he said.

“He always stood by his beliefs.

“I served alongside James for 12 years on Fraser Coast Regional Council and acknowledge the many years he gave to representing his community.”

Flood warnings were issued for the Lockyer Valley and Darling Downs, the weather bureau said Brisbane would avoid the fate of surrounding regions, despite and intense storm on Monday afternoon.

Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, told this masthead about 3.30pm storms had hit the south and west of Brisbane.

“In the past hour, the highest rainfall around the Brisbane area has been about 13 millimetres in the southwest suburbs, which is a decent amount to get within an hour, but not crazy,” he said.

“Brisbane is pretty likely to see a burst of rain and some thunder and lightning.”

He added there was a minor flood warning along the Logan River, though Brisbane was unlikely to experience significant flooding.

“But it doesn’t take a whole lot before those rivers in the city or around the city could shoot up as well,” Hines said.

Rain was expected to ease from Tuesday.

Residents further west were not as lucky on Monday morning. Six people were rescued after being stranded at a public campground in Leyburn, near Warwick in Queensland’s Southern Downs.

Three men and three women, aged between 26 and 71, were trapped by rising floodwater before Queensland Fire and Rescue swift water crews arrived to retrieve them around 11am.

Hines said about 86 millimetres of rain had fallen in Leyburn within 24 hours, and 211 millimetres over the previous week.

Significant flooding was possible in waterways west of Brisbane, including Laidley Creek, Warrill Creek, and the Upper Condamine River.

The inland Wide Bay-Burnett region north of Brisbane and the Central Ranges recorded between 200 and 300 millimetres of rain by the end of Sunday.

Hines said heavy rain over several days made flooding more likely, with the ground in some areas now completely saturated.

“[It’s been an] incredibly wet weekend across southern Queensland, which has continued over the last week due to a blocking high-pressure system in the Tasman Sea,” senior meteorologist Sarah Scully said earlier on Monday.

“Many parts of Queensland have seen two to four times their average October rainfall in the last week.”

Scully said a severe storm “stalled” over the Darling Downs in the early hours of Monday morning, dropping more than 100 millimetres of rain over 12 hours in parts.

A severe thunderstorm warning in place across south-east Queensland, including the south-east coast, Darling Downs and Granite Belt, was cancelled just after 7am.

Hines said the week ahead would bring “longer nice weather gaps” between rain, cloud cover and cooler temperatures, with conditions easing by the weekend.

“Thursday [and] Friday looks like overall much brighter conditions with just a lower chance of showers.

“More of this week should be bright and clean.”

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