Check road conditions
If it’s flooded, forget it.
Plan ahead and check for closed roads or changed road conditions online or by calling: 13 19 40.
Road conditions can change quickly when dangerous weather occurs. In some cases, roads are closed and detours are set up to guide you around incidents to keep you away from danger or to clear a hazard from an area. In Queensland, our summer months in particular bring rain, cyclones and unstable weather conditions, at times resulting in flooded roads. Our winter months bring hazardous bushfire conditions where roads can be cut off in an instant.
Check the ‘QLDTraffic’ website or app
The Department of Transport and Main Roads ‘QLDTraffic’ website can help you prepare in case of an emergency, whether it’s mapping out an alternative route or assisting you to make travel decisions. Find out more at: https://qldtraffic.qld.gov.au/
The QLDTraffic app is available for iPhone and Android devices. It provides personalised push notifications for important traffic alerts that affect your favourite routes and places, and it can even reach out to you about nearby traffic alerts using audio notifications while you're on the road.
Managed by the Department of Transport and Main Roads, QLDTraffic provides information on road conditions throughout Queensland, including crashes and hazards, road closures and restrictions, roadworks and special events. The app also provides access to web cameras that relay near real-time traffic imagery. Find out about the QLDTraffic app at:
https://qldtraffic.qld.gov.au
Stay safe while driving
Floods can occur almost anywhere in Queensland and can rise over days, or in minutes in a 'flash flood'. Flood waters can move fast, so never try to drive over roads that have water over them.
Never drive through floodwater.
To stay safe while driving in flooded areas:
- Check if flooding is likely, plan ahead and make alternative arrangements so you are not driving on flooded roads.
- Obey road closure signs.
- When floodwater starts to go down, don't drive over the roads until the road is open again. Sometimes the road damage is not known until the road is completely dry and is being driven on again.
- Drive carefully on roads that have been reopened because they may still be drying out.
- Look out for landslides as many roadsides will have exposed layers of rocks and soil that could slip.
More than half of flood-related deaths are a result of driving through floodwater. Even if it looks calm, no one can predict what floodwater will do or what’s happened to the road underneath. Any amount of swift flowing water can sweep away your car, no matter what you drive. Don’t risk it.