 Cyclone Zoe was named and detected on 9 March 1974 when it was northeast of Brisbane.In the following days it moved steadily southward and interacted with an already-exiting trough in the easterlies to produce sustained and very heavy rainfall all along the coast from Brisbane south almost to Sydney.In the four days between 10–13 March, Brisbane received  and some places in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales received as much as .