Daily London
Heavy rain continues to batter the north-east tropical coast, where a severe weather warning remains in place today.
Coastal areas between Townsville and Bowen are expected to be lashed with 100 to 200mm rain today, with higher totals possible on the coastal fringe, all the way up to Cairns.
The downpour could trigger further flash flooding, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, where waterways are already swollen as a result of heavy rainfall in recent days.
“We are still seeing heavy rain across northern Queensland,” Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jonathan How said.
“We’re reminding Queenslanders that even though the rain is starting to ease from later today and into tomorrow, these heavy showers could still bring flash flooding and still cause river rises.”
The deluge is expected to ease in the afternoon before picking back up this evening along the coast between Rollingstone and Ayr.
Flood warnings are also current for the Mulgrave, Russell, Tully, Murray, Cloncurry and Georgina catchments.
Water levels along the Leichhardt River peaked near 16.25 metres at Lorraine on Tuesday, causing major flooding.
The main flood peak is now approaching Floraville, where river levels are expected to continue rising in the coming days.
Moderate flooding is likely at Normanton, in the state’s north-west, where river levels at Glenore Weir are just above 12 metres and slowly rising.
Thankfully, a weather warning for heavy rain across the north-west of the state, including the Northern Goldfields, Upper Flinders, North West and Central West districts, has been cancelled after conditions eased.
Residents in Winton and Corfield could be hit by severe thunderstorms in the coming hours.
Record rainfalls across North Tropical Coast
Rainfall topped a metre at three locations on Queensland’s North Tropical coast yesterday.
Bingil Bay was hit with a deluge of 1114.2mm over the last four days, while South Mission Beach and Cowley beach each received nearly 1050mm in the same period.
By comparison, Brisbane’s annual rainfall is just over a metre, according to WeatherZone.
Parts of Queensland’s North Tropical Coast could see a further 400 to 800mm by the start of next week, which could potentially take totals from this event close to two metres of rainfall.
Record-breaking rain also fell inland in Queensland’s Gulf Country, North West, and Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders forecast districts
Major flooding is expected to continue along many waterways in the north, including the Herbert, Bohle, Flinders, Nicholson, Leichhardt, Norman, Gilbert, Western and Diamantina Rivers.
Premier David Crisafulli announced disaster relief for the affected areas earlier this week.
