Health News at Your Fingertips

Queensland’s Assistant Commissioner for Fire and Emergency Services Andrew Short has again asked people not to drive into floodwaters and to stay put.

The roads, a lot of roads are cut off with a lot of roads impassable and as an example, getting from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast now is extremely difficult. If people need to travel, they need to rethink their travel requirements, have a Plan B and not go out in this situation. It’s not a day to be on the road. It is not a day to test out your car to see how good it is in floodwaters.

Drivers moving through floodwater run the risk of being trapped by water pressure and of drowning if the attempt fails and they are forced to mistake.

Those in an emergency situation, who have caught by surprise and believe it is their only option, should wind down their windows before making the attempt – though as Short advises the best plan is always to prepare in advance and stay put.

We understand that people have been stuck at home for a few days. That’s terminally the safest place to be if your house is high and dry, that’s certainly the safest place to be.

The Bureau of Meteorology warns of intense rainfall and damaging winds across south-east Queensland and the Brisbane CBD.

Six people have died in Queensland with flood waters continuing to rise through Sunday following several days of intense rain across South-east Queensland.

With flooding is expected to continue and move into northern New South Wales, here is helpful breakdown on what to expect next.

Tropical Cyclone Anika has made landfall in Western Australia, bringing winds gusts of up to 120km/h as it hit the north Kimberley coast, AAP reports.

Residents in and around Kalumburu were told late on Saturday night that they had to go to shelter immediately.

People living between Wyndham and the Northern Territory border were urged to prepare for cyclonic weather and organise emergency plans, including a first aid kit, portable radio, food and water.

Those in the North Kimberley and the West Kimberley were advised to stay up to date with weather warnings and forecasts.

The category one system was moving south-west at 16km/h and expected to weaken slowly during Sunday as it tracks west across the Kimberley into Monday.

The Bureau of Meteorology said Anika was likely to move offshore from the coast near Kuri Bay on Tuesday and then strengthen again off the WA coast.

The Victorian Covid-19 case numbers are in: 17 people have died in the state, five people are on ventilators, 38 are in ICU and 274 people are in hospital.

Queensland’s Assistant Commissioner for Fire and Emergency Services Andrew Short is also telling people to stay out of flood waters.

We would just ask people to stay home, stay safe, today is not the time to be doing disaster tourism or storm tourism, just to see what’s out there. Certainly not the day to be going out on the roads and driving through floodwaters and certainly not the day to have your kids outside, playing in the stormwater on surfboards, in drains and such such.

Also with so much going on it’s easy to sometimes miss stuff. If you see something going on out in the big wide world (of Australia) and think it should be on the blog, you can find me at @RoyceRk2.

NSW Health is reporting seven people died overnight from Covid, with 58 now in ICU and 1,146 hospitalisations.

With floodwaters in Brisbane rising, there are fears of a repeat of the devastating events of 2011 which affected 200,000 people.

However, Stuart Khan, professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Global Water Institute, University of New South Wales says that is unlikel.

To Ukraine now where the Eastern European nation is about to enter day four of the invasion by Russia. With threats of encirclement and bombardment, those in the capital, Kiev, have waited through another sleepless night.

Keep up with the latest events as they happen by following the Guardian’s Ukrainian live blog.

Welcome to the live blog on this fine, damp Sunday morning for many Australians. This is Royce Kurmelovs and I will be taking you events as they happen.

Bear with me as we boot up this blog machine and get things going.