The level of Brisbane’s Wivenhoe Dam is to be lowered slightly before above average summer rainfall hits the area.

The dam level will be lowered to 75% from its present 80%, Acting Queensland Premier Andrew Fraser said yesterday.

The Bureau of Meteorology says it has “a moderate to high level of confidence” that rainfall over the November-January period will be above the long-term median in southern Queensland and NSW.

Queensland Natural Resources Minister Rachel Nolan says a number of federal and state agencies have advised that if water levels are maintained at 75% going into the next wet season, “in the event of a flood like last year’s the flood peak would be 0.3 metres lower at the [Brisbane CBD] rain gauge”.

Mr Fraser says that if Queensland suffers another rainfall event equal to that of last year, Brisbane would still flood.

Water will be released from Wivenhoe Dam over 12 days.