<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>340136</docID> <postdate>2025-03-12 10:03:57</postdate> <headline>Sunshine breaks through amid muddy post-deluge clean up</headline> <body><p><img class=" wp-image-340137" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250311182492370884-original-1.jpg" alt="" width="666" height="444" /></p> <caption>People in southeast Queensland and northern NSW are sorting through waterlogged possessions. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Savannah Meacham </b>and <b>Rachael Ward</b> in Brisbane</span></p> <p><strong>Sunshine will break through for the first time in days for those facing a mammoth clean up after widespread destruction from a deluge of rain.</strong></p> <p>Anthony Lay has already thrown away dripping carpets, mattresses, chairs and a waterlogged drum kit.</p> <p>His Oxley property, south of Brisbane, was one of many inundated by floodwaters in ex-tropical cyclone Alfred's downpours.</p> <p>He was overwhelmed by a foul stench seeping out of his possessions as he carried each to the curb for the council to take away.</p> <p>"It's exhausting - 2022 took a lot out of me, then this one is a little bit more," he told AAP as he threw away much of what was downstairs.</p> <p>"Thankfully it didn't get up so high."</p> <p>His whole home went under in 2011's devastating floods and floodwaters reached the second storey in 2022, but he had hoped to escape the worst of Alfred.</p> <p>"Being in this area, there could have been a slight chance of it happening but I didn't think this time it would get in," Mr Lay lamented.</p> <p>Brisbane City Council has set up more than 190 temporary waste bin sites across the city where the severe weather has impacted regular kerbside waste collections.</p> <p>More than 50,000 homes and businesses remain without power, down from a peak of 420,000.</p> <p>Students at more than 100 schools across southeast Queensland will also stay home for another day as assessments are carried out for damage.</p> <p>No further significant rainfall is forecast for the remainder of the week with some light coastal showers possible, the Bureau of Meteorology says.</p> <p>Meteorologist Helen Reid said "breaks of sunshine" would return to parts of the state drenched by record-breaking falls.</p> <p>"The easing trend will continue along the coast, although floodwaters may remain high for some time, the forecast is for a dry weekend ahead for many," she said.</p> <p>Several flood warnings have been downgraded but moderate risk remains on the Logan, Richmond, Clarence and Arara rivers spanning Queensland and NSW.</p> <p>Many areas are still cut off as the focus shifts to recovery efforts in areas where water has subsided.</p> <p>Meanwhile, a different type of storm is brewing in northern NSW over people occupying vacant homes in Lismore.</p> <p>They were acquired as part of a buyback scheme after the devastating 2022 floods and now authorities want about 40 people who moved in gone for good.</p> <p>NSW Premier Chris Minns highlighted "overseas visitors, tourists, backpackers" living in the homes and vowed to demolish them.</p> <p>However, those inside have no intention of leaving.</p> <p>The area is home to NSW's highest number of rough-sleepers and many insist they are squatters at the front of the nation's housing crisis, not backpackers.</p> </body>