Parts of Queensland and New South Wales will continue to endure heavy rain and severe thunderstorms during the next 24 hours. This severe weather follows an outbreak of storms that produced almost half a million lightning strikes over eastern Australia on Wednesday and Thursday morning.

A developing low pressure system has been causing widespread rain and thunderstorms over eastern Australia during the last couple of days. This included downpours that delivered 60 to 80 mm of rain in southeast Qld and 50 to 70 mm in the NSW Central Coast and lower Mid North Coast during the 24 hours ending at 9am on Thursday.

During this same 24-hour period, Weatherzone’s Total Lightning Network detected 460,000 lightning strikes within an 800 km radius of Dalby, Qld.

Rain and potentially severe thunderstorms will continue to affect parts of Qld and NSW on Thursday as the low pressure system drifts over eastern Australia. The low is expected to deepen further as it moves off the north coast of NSW on Thursday night, causing a more focused area of heavy rain in eastern NSW on Thursday night into Friday morning.

The image below shows how much rain is expected to fall across Thursday and Friday combined. Some of this rain will come from thunderstorms and some will be falling independent of storms.

Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the 48 hours ending at 10pm AEST on Friday, May 29, 2026. Source: Weatherzone.

Computer modelling suggests that the upper Hunter and Mid North Coast districts will see a period of heavy rain and thunderstorms between Thursday afternoon and Friday morning as the low tracks down the coast. This area could see accumulated falls of around 60 to 120 mm, with potential for 6-hourly rain rates of around 40 to 80 mm.

Flash flooding will be a high risk in areas that see heavy rain over a short period of time. Some minor to moderate riverine flooding is also possible in parts of the Hunter and Mid North Coast districts overnight Thursday into Friday.

Image: Forecast accumulates rain during the 36 hours ending at 4pm AEST on Friday, May 29, 2026. Source: Weatherzone.

At this stage, rain and storms should ease on Friday afternoon and evening as the low moves away from the coast.

Anyone living in central and northern NSW and southern Qld should check the latest warnings during the next couple of days.

For emergency assistance during this weather event, call the SES on 132 500. In life-threatening situations, call triple zero.