Brisbane Area Pounded by Rain

The Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, portions of coastal NSW - just swamped!

These semi-tropical coastal storms are a real mystery to me. They occur reasonably often along the eastern coast of Australia, and feature a big high pressure system to the SE, with a trough stalled near the coast.

These storms kick the coastal areas real hard (some places are reporting close to 400 mm rain in 24 hours, something that would be unheard of in the mid-latitudes outside of hurricanes) but the rains don't penetrate much farther inland than the crest of the Great Dividing Range. The resulting climate leads to people hugging the coast for water, leaving a yawning, almost people-free emptiness in the continent's dry interior.

A mystery wrapped within an enigma within a riddle! Beware warm waters and an onshore breeze!