A young girl among seven others killed in Queensland wild weather

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Queensland has been hit by deadly storms over the past 48 hours with seven people killed, including a child. Three men have died after their annual boxing day boat trip turned to tragedy when the boat capsized on Moreton Bay with eleven friends on board. A nine-year-old girl has died after she was swept away in a "flooded storm drain" south of Brisbane overnight. Further north near Gympie the bodies of two women in their 40s were discovered in the Mary River. And a woman died on the Gold Coast following the Christmas night tornado.

Transcript

00:00 A second deadly night of ferocious storms lashed the southeast, leaving destruction

00:07 in its wake.

00:14 It seemed to be coming from all different directions at one point in time and it was

00:20 fairly significant.

00:22 The deadly deluge claiming the lives of seven people, among them a nine year old girl in

00:27 Rochedale.

00:28 Absolute tragedy, I'm not aware of the circumstances but these storms, you've just got to be so

00:34 careful.

00:35 Meanwhile, an annual Boxing Day fishing trip turned deadly off Moreton Bay.

00:39 Two men aged 48 and 69 were found dead in the water last night and a third man aged

00:46 59 was found this morning.

00:48 Sadly we lost three, we could have lost eleven.

00:51 They're unpredictable and unfortunately people underestimate how quickly these storms can

00:55 come on but these natural events, we can't control them.

00:59 Tributes have begun pouring out for the men, one of them Stephen Tate, a revered school

01:04 teacher at Brisbane's Iona College.

01:07 The school released a post saying "At this sad time we hold firmly in our prayers Steve's

01:13 family, friends, his colleagues and the wider Iona community."

01:18 Among them local rugby union identity David Logan, described in a statement as one of

01:24 the best, remembered as fun loving and most sincere.

01:29 The rescue operation has been dangerous and lengthy with more than 20 crews trying to

01:33 find those on board and recover the vessel before more extreme weather hits the south

01:38 east but it's likely the boat will remain at sea tonight because of structural issues.

01:44 On Christmas night a 59 year old woman killed after being struck by a tree in Helens Bay

01:49 along the Gold Coast.

01:51 Further north more heartache with two women in their 40s dying after going missing in

01:56 a storm drain on Boxing Day.

01:59 It is just a tragic set of circumstances but it's particularly felt hard at this time of

02:03 year when people would prefer to be spending time with their loved ones and family.

02:07 Holiday tragedies that have rocked south east communities.

02:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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