Daily London
While the possible cyclone is currently west of Vanuatu and isn’t in Australian waters, weather experts warn its effects will still be felt along the Queensland coastline, with “beach erosion and inundation heading your way”.
“A massive groundswell to hit the coast around Monday,” 9News weather expert Garry Youngberry said.
“They will start to pull the shark nets out from Coolangatta all the way to Main Beach and up around the Sunshine Coast.”
BoM forecasters say the next few days across the north of the sunshine state is set to see heavy rainfall, with the low from Koji bringing severe thunderstorms to the already soaked region.
Multiple major flood warnings remained in place across parts of the state overnight, along with other moderate and minor ones.
As the fallout from ex-cyclone Koji continues, evacuated residents from Clermont are returning home to take in the mess, with much of the town buried under mud and rubble.
About 48 hours on from a flood unlike any Jarrod Humphreys has seen before, it’s his livelihood he’s now working to protect.
Having evacuated his family and neighbours by helicopter and relocating livestock, he now faces a massive clean-up.
“These panels are now washed up here. It’s just a mess, it’s a mess,” Humphreys told 9News.
“I can’t hold an animal in here at the moment, every fence is down.”
Rachael Brent’s family also fled the rising brown tide.
The Clermont family returned to face the blanket of thick mud left behind.
“We’ve gurnied all our patio and our shed out and mucked all that out,” Brent told 9News.
“It’ll take I reckon weeks – we’ve been very fortunate to have our family and friends helping us.”
According to the regional development minister, 71 properties across the area have been impacted, four of them to a significant extent.
Hardship payments have been activated for the coal mining community as the flood threat escalates in neighbouring regions.
“We’re going to see the moderate flooding at Yamba over the weekend and then Rockhampton into Monday,” Laura Boekel from the BoM said.
Beef capital residents warned the risk along the Fitzroy River will intensify next week.
“We’ve got time to prepare and we’ll see those floodwaters slowly rise, which gives our community time to take those steps that they need to do,” Rockhampton Mayor Tony Williams said.
To the north-west, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, it’s still an almighty effort just to keep isolated locals fed.
The supply runs will continue to take the form of a production lines of trucks and tractors forming a conveyor belt for some time to come.
