The father of a six-year-old autistic boy who tragically drowned in a neighbour's pool after vanishing from the family's Booragoon home yesterday has shared his agony.

Steven Vines told 9News in an emotional interview that his family are "not going to cope" with the devastating loss of their boy Joey.

"He couldn't yell for help because he was non-verbal," Mr Vine said.

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"We loved him to death and everyone that was in his life, he melted their bloody hearts."

The Vines family first noticed Joey missing around 4pm when they called police.

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After a 90-minute search, the little boy was found unresponsive in a neighbour's pool.

St John Ambulance rushed him to Fiona Stanley Hospital where he was given first aid but later died.

It is believed the boy climbed two pool fences to gain access, sparking Mr Vines' plea for adequate pool fencing standards and for parents to "keep an eye out" for their kids.

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Chris Rock made a joke. Will Smith quickly took offence.

And the Oscars suddenly had a scene like none other.

Smith, moments before winning best actor honours for his portrayal of tennis dad Richard Williams in King Richard, marched on stage and appeared to smack Rock during the Academy Awards after the comic made a joke about the appearance of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

READ MORE: Will Smith apologises to academy for Chris Rock slap in tearful Best Actor speech

Smith shouted at Rock to "keep my wife's name out of your (expletive) mouth," and the crowd hushed as it became clear this was no act.

Smith apologised afterward to many people, including tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, Richard Williams' daughters- but did not mention Rock in his apology.

"Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family," Smith said as he began his acceptance speech.

He then paused, the meaning behind his choice of words clear, and teared up as he spoke about being a protector for those who worked with him on the film.

LIVE: 'Fierce defender of his family': Will Smith apologises after punch

"I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people," Smith said during his acceptance speech.

"I know to do what we do you've got to be able to take abuse. You've got to be able to have people talk crazy about you.

"In this business, you've got to be able to have people disrespecting you.

"And you've got to smile and pretend like that's OK."

There were few, if any, smiles during the incident.

The exchange began when Rock took aim at Pinkett Smith's shaved head, saying, "Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can't wait to see it, all right?"

Pinkett Smith revealed in 2018 that she was diagnosed with alopecia. She has often discussed the challenges of hair loss on Instagram and other social media platforms.

The joke missed, badly.

Smith walked onto the stage from his front-row seat and took a swing at Rock with an open palm, generating a loud smack.

Smith walked back to his seat and shouted for Rock to leave Pinkett Smith alone.

Rock replied that he was just making a "GI Jane" joke and Smith yelled back at him a second time.

"That was the greatest night in the history of television," Rock said, then resumed his role as presenter.

A few minutes later, rapper Sean Combs, on stage to introduce a tribute to "The Godfather" tried to play peacemaker and suggested Smith and Rock settle their differences at an Oscars afterparty.

"Will and Chris, we're going to solve that like family at the Gold party," Combs said.

The reverberations did not stop there. Several people approached Smith and Pinkett Smith in the commercial breaks that followed; Keith Urban hugged Smith during one stoppage in the show, Nicole Kidman also went over to say a few words as well.

Backstage, during interview sessions with winners, the Rock-Smith incident seemed like something few — if anyone — wanted to discuss.

"I'm not talking about that," said Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson, the director of "Summer of Soul," which won an Oscar for best documentary.

Pinkett Smith was also the subject of jokes from Rock when he hosted the Oscars in 2016. She did not attend the Oscars that year, saying at the time her decision stemmed from a lack of diversity among award nominees and how Black artists were not properly represented.

"I'm hoping the Academy invites me back," Will Smith said, as he concluded his on-stage remarks.

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Queensland residents are bracing for more wet weather and flash flooding with the state's south-east once again in the firing line for an extreme weather event.

A major flood warning remains in place in the community of Dalby, west of Brisbane, as floodwaters spill from Myall Creek and the Condamine River.

The catchment was inundated overnight, triggering major flash flooding through the town.

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The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed flooding is expected to peak at 3.65 metres, almost reaching 2011 flood heights at around midnight tonight with more rain and thunderstorms expected this afternoon.

Bureau of Meteorology emergency management meteorologist David Grant said while the rain event was unlikely to match the flooding seen last month, already wet catchments meant flooding was still likely across the south-east.

"Given the wet catchments, we're going to potentially see very rapid rises in a lot of our creek systems across south-east Queensland in the next 24 hours," he said.

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QFES State Commander of Operations Cheryl-Lee Fitzgerald said emergency services had conducted nine rescues overnight and today with 80 calls for help.

One man has died in the floods after being discovered in his submerged ute and another remains missing, bringing the state's six-week flooding death toll to 14.

"This is a reminder of how quickly, and dangerous these situations can get," Ms Fitzgerald said.

"We can not understate how dangerous this flash flooding can be.

"Expect it's going to be wet for much of the south-east region."

She added residents in the south-east should never drive through floodwaters and to avoid driving where possible.

"We do ask the community please stay up to date with Bureau warnings over the next 24 hours," Ms Fitzgerald said.

READ MORE: What happened in aftermath of Smith, Rock confrontation

In Dalby, 11 schools have been closed due to the flood risk.

Residents have been urged to prepare should an evacuation be necessary.

Dalby local Charlene Hall has secured furniture from low-lying levels of her home to the ceiling in preparation for more floods.

"Everyone knows we live on a flood plain," Ms Hall said.

"We've seen a bit of water come in through the town in the last few months, it's probably helped people be more prepared."

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https://twitter.com/BOM_Qld/status/1508287124642177036

Norm Townsend said after three floods in four months, fellow Dalby locals were now used to flooding.

"At home there I had 150mm I measured in my rain gauge," he said.

"I was half-prepared because we only flooded what, three or four weeks ago?

"This is the third time in four months I've flooded.

"Every time it gets higher, higher, higher."

Areas in the Condamine River catchment recorded 50mm-120 mm in the 24 hours to 9am today with Myall Creek receiving the most rain with 160mm.

Flood warnings have also been issued along the Bokhara River, the Condamine River towards Warwick, the Balonne River and Charleys Creek.

Queensland, NSW east coast in firing line for heavy rain and storms

A severe storm warning is in place for a 500-kilometre stretch of coastline across New South Wales and Queensland, as a rain bomb unleashes.

A month after the catastrophic flooding event of February, March, the Bureau of Meteorology has said communities across north eastern NSW and south east Queensland are at risk of "dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding".

Thunderstorms are also expected in Brisbane and the Gold Coast today.

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Across the border in NSW, a minor to major flood warning is in place for the Culgoa, Birrie, Bokhara, and Narran Rivers.

Hazardous surf warnings have been issued for south of Cape Moreton, including the Gold Coast and in NSW's Byron Coast, Macquarie Coast and Hunter Coast.

https://twitter.com/livgracecurran/status/1508301382125703170

Main Beach on Stradbroke Island is closed today due to dangerous surf.

The warnings came after the BoM put a stretch of coastline from Noosa, down to Coffs Harbor in NSW on alert.

Today, the bureau warned Queensland could see "locally intense rainfall leading to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding possible with thunderstorms with six-hourly rainfall totals in excess of 200mm."

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A severe weather warning has also been issued for people in Northern Rivers and parts of Mid North Coast and Northern Tablelands Forecast Districts, with up to 180mm of rain forecast.

https://twitter.com/BOM_NSW/status/1508189479303065609

The NSW SES is urging residents to take care, explaining the ground and catchments are sodden which heightens the risk of flash and riverine flooding.

"Our catchments are very wet, and our dams are full, so it will not take a lot for floods to occur," NSW SES Assistant Commissioner Nicole Hogan said.

"People need to monitor the weather conditions closely and be prepared to act early.

"In the event flooding does occur, there is a very real chance that roads can be impacted.

"If you are on the road and come across floodwater, do not attempt to drive, walk or ride through it. Instead, turn around and find another way."

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What is causing the rain?

BoM meteorologist Jackson Browne said falls of up to 200mm have already been felt across the Northern Rivers in NSW after a wet weekend.

He explained the wet weather is being caused by a coastal trough, which is expected to deepen over south-east Queensland today.

"A band of cloud and extensive moisture wraps around an upper level low," he said.

"That is creating severe storms.

"This upper level low will cause a rapid deepening of the coastal trough."

Rain activity is forecast to shift over the Northern Rivers "and possibly down to the Hunter region" tomorrow.

The BoM said the low pressure system is fast-moving, unlike the one that lingered for days at the end of February, responsible for the deadly flooding event across the two states.

"It does draw away on Wednesday," Mr Browne said.

"We should see a cessation mostly of the rainfall occurring through Queensland however the onshore flow will still create some showers and storms possibly for parts of NSW."

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A ferocious Russian invasion of Kyiv could leave the city razed to the ground, an urban warfare expert has predicted, while warning Russia's terrifying obliteration of Grozny in Chechnya may foreshadow Moscow's battle tactics in the weeks ahead.

In 1999, during the brutal conflict in the breakaway state of Chechnya, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the complete destruction of the capital city Grozny, with unimaginable bombardments killing tens of thousands of civilians.

Anthony King, a professor of war studies at Warwick University and author of the book Urban Warfare in the Twenty-First Century, said Mr Putin could unleash the same horror on Kyiv, because Russia's leader is "betting the house" on winning in Ukraine.

READ MORE: Putin's war in Ukraine nearing possibly more dangerous phase

Professor King told 9news.com.au he feared the situation in Kyiv looked "very bleak", and he expected Mr Putin to ramp up "a kind of medieval bombardment" once Russian forces, he predicted, struggle to wrestle control of the Ukrainian capital of 3 million people.

Ukrainian defence forces and civilians would be subjected to an "intense, kind of coercive bombardment," Professor King said, as frustration levels in the Kremlin begin to rise.

"I don't think (the Russians) have got the force numbers to take Kyiv," he said.

"So they'll possibly resort to a kind of medieval bombardment, with a view to collapsing the regime, collapsing civilian morale."

Professor King said at first he did not think the Russians would indiscriminately bomb Ukrainian cities, but he has now changed his mind, given evidence and footage coming out of Mariupol and Lviv.

"I'm afraid to say I think the bombing will be even more intense in Kyiv (than Mariupol and Lviv) because I think as a military objective it's really important (to Moscow) and it will also be really, really difficult for the Russians to take."

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With the invasion now in its second month, Russian forces have seemingly stalled on many fronts and are even losing previously taken ground to Ukrainian counterattacks, including around Kyiv.

The Russians have bombed the capital from the air but not taken or surrounded the city.

US and French defence officials say Russian troops appear to have adopted defensive positions outside Kyiv.

Professor King said conflicts involving Russia in Grozny in the 1990s and Donbas in eastern Ukraine since 2014 were both strong pointers as to what kind of tactics Mr Putin might order next.

"Essentially, the Russian approach is very significant levels of bombardment, a lot of coercive bombardment, rather than really precise, accurate targeted bombardment, followed by assaults, which will be accompanied by barrages," he said.

"They'll be looking to destroy the fortified positions and bunkers of the defenders, and then Russian forces will attack systematically and slowly through the city."

There would be "no great sophistication" to the Russian ground assault, he said, predicting a high death toll and grisly casualties as intense fighting moves slowly through the city's neighbourhoods, block by bloody block.

Ukrainian defence forces have spent weeks fortifying Kyiv's buildings and barricading key streets and routes into the city. The city's many high-rise buildings will be occupied by crack sniper teams.

"So it will be like a sort of 20th century or even a medieval fight," Professor King said, "a slow, grinding assault with a mechanised infantry, lots and lots of artillery."

"My sense is that Putin is betting the house on this, and therefore he needs to take Kyiv.

"In Grozny, the Russians ground their way through the city with massive artillery bombardments, just cleared out the buildings – boring and grinding through the buildings.

"It will be the same in Kyiv."

Professor King said the battle for Mosul in 2016-17 underlined the difficult and perilous nature of urban warfare, even when one side has vastly superior weapons and numbers.

"ISIS were a light infantry force of 6000 soldiers, it took nine months to clear them out of Mosul, a city of 1.2 million.

"The Iraqi army was 94,000-strong, totally backed by US air power of unbelievable sophistication and dominance."

The Ukrainian defence forces are better organised and armed than Islamic State forces, Professor King said, and they were defending a much larger city comprised of "very complicated topography", including an underground subway system.

It was possible the Ukrainian forces could use mines and IED bombs to try and thwart the invading Russians, he said.

"Kyiv represents a very, very dangerous military target for the Russians, if properly defended."

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The Oscars has been rocked by an unbelievable exchange after Will Smith took offence to a joke made by Chris Rock about his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.

After Rock joked to Smith that he was looking forward to a sequel in which Pinkett-Smith would play G.I. Jane, apparently mocking her bald head, Smith stood up from his seat near the stage. He strode up to Rock and slapped him. After sitting back down, Smith shouted at Rock to "keep my wife's name out of your (expletive) mouth".

Rock reacted with a "wow" before exclaiming "Will Smith just smacked the s— outta me".

READ MORE: After the slap, what happened next?

The moment shocked the Dolby Theatre audience and viewers at home.

At the commercial break, presenter Daniel Kaluuya came up to to hug Smith, and Denzel Washington escorted him to the side of the stage.

The two talked and hugged and Tyler Perry came over to talk as well.

Viewers around the globe rushed to social media to question whether the punch was real as the Oscars feed was cut to millions of viewers.

However, minutes later Smith won the Award for Best Actor for his performance in King Richard and teared up in his speech, describing Richard Williams, who he played, as a "fierce defender of his family". Smith said "love makes you do crazy things" and apologised to the Academy and his fellow nominees.

Smith's acceptance speech switched between defence and apology.

"Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family," Smith said in his first remarks. He continued: "I'm being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people."

Williams shared what Washington told him: "At your highest moment, be careful because that's when the devil comes for you."

Ultimately, Smith apologised to the academy and to his fellow nominees.

"Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father" said Smith. "But love will make you do crazy things."

Rock will not file charges against Smith, the LAPD later said in a statement.

"LAPD investigative entities are aware of an incident between two individuals during the Academy Awards program," the statement said.

"The incident involved one individual slapping another. The individual involved has declined to file a police report. If the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report."

Earlier, Troy Kotsur and Ariana DeBose made history as the 94th Academy Awards got underway.

After record-low ratings during a pandemic-marred 2021 show producers this year turned to one of the biggest stars around — Beyoncé — to kick off an Oscars intended to revive the awards' place in pop culture.

After an introduction from Venus and Serena Williams, Beyoncé performed her "King Richard" nominated song, "Be Alive," in an elaborately choreographed performance from a lime-colored, open-air stage in Compton, where the Williams sisters grew up.

Hosts Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall then began the telecast from the Dolby Theatre.

"All right, we are here at the Oscars," began Hall. Sykes finished: "Where movie lovers unite and watch TV."

Sykes, Schumer and Hall breezily joked through prominent Hollywood issues like pay equity — they said three female hosts were "cheaper than one man" — the Lady Gaga drama that Sykes called "House of Random Accents," the state of the Golden Globes (now relegated to the memoriam package, said Sykes) and Leonardo DiCaprio's girlfriends.

Their most pointed political point came at the end of their routine, in which they promised a great night and then alluded to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill.

KEY AWARDS

Deaf family drama CODA, won best picture, handing Hollywood's top award to a streaming service for the first time.

Sian Heder's film, which first premiered at a virtual Sundance Film Festival in winter 2021, started out as an underdog but gradually emerged as the Oscars' feel-good favourite. It also had one very deep-pocketed backer in Apple TV+, which scored its first best picture Academy Award, less than three years after launching the service.

It also handed another near-miss defeat to Netflix, the veteran streamer that for years has tried vainly to score best picture. Its best chance, Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog," came in with a leading 12 nominations.

However Jane Campion has won the best director Oscar for "The Power of the Dog."

The 67-year-old filmmaker won the Academy Award on Sunday night for the unconventional Western starring Benedict Cumberbatch that was shot in her native New Zealand.

It's her first best director Oscar. She won a best original screenplay Oscar in 1994 for her film "The Piano," which also earned her a directing nomination.

Australian Greig Fraser was an early winner at this year's Oscars, taking the statue for Best Cinematography for his work on sci-fi epic "Dune".

Jessica Chastain won the Academy Award for best actress for playing televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in "The Eyes of Tammy Faye."

It's the first Oscar for Chastain in three nominations. She was previously nominated for "Zero Dark Thirty" in 2013 and "The Help" in 2012.

She beat out fellow nominees Olivia Colman, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Kristen Stewart. Chastain thanked each of her nominees, her co-tsar Andrew Garfield and her makeup team.

Billie Eilish has an Oscar.

The 20-year-old pop star and her 24-year-old producer brother, Finneas O'Connell, won the Academy Award for best original song for writing "No Time to Die" from the James Bond film of the same name.

Troy Kotsur has won the best supporting actor Oscar for his role in "CODA."

Kotsur on Sunday night became the second actor who is deaf to win an Academy Award. His "CODA" co-star Marlee Matlin was the first when she won best actress for "Children of a Lesser God" in 1987.

He dedicated the film to the Deaf community.

"This is our moment."

Kotsur was barely known as an actor before "CODA," but was considered a heavy favorite for the Oscar after the acclaimed performance and wins earlier in awards season.

The Oscar for best supporting actress goes to Ariana DeBose for "West Side Story."

DeBose won the Academy Award on Sunday night for her acting, singing and dancing as Anita in her breakthrough role in the Steven Spielberg reimagining of the classic musical.

She becomes the first Afro-Latina and openly LGBTQ actor win in the category. "To anybody who has ever questioned your identity," she said, "I promise you there is a place for us."

"Encanto" has won the Oscar for best animated feature.

The film about a magical family in the mountains of Colombia won the Academy Award for Walt Disney Animation Studios on Sunday night.

Not counting films from its Pixar subsidiary, Disney has won the animation Oscar four times since it was first handed out in 2002.

"Summer of Soul" has won best documentary at the Oscars.

Director Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's chronicle of the music of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival took the trophy as expected at Sunday's Academy Awards.

"I'm so happy right now, I could cry," he said.

Japan's "Drive My Car" has won the Oscar for best international feature.

Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, "Drive My Car" was directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who is also was nominated for co-writing the screenplay.

Kenneth Branagh has won the best original screenplay Oscar for writing "Belfast."

It's the first career Oscar for the 61-year-old, who is also nominated Sunday for best director and, as a producer, for best picture.

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