Australia Weather News

Flooding is expected to increase in north Queensland on Tuesday as heavy rainfall drenches hundreds of kilometres from the tropical east coast to the outback.

Three flood-related rescues have already taken place in western Queensland, including one incident where a man and his two dogs became stranded between flooded rivers and creeks.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) confirmed a monsoon trough has extended across the north-west and contains an embedded low-pressure system located near Lake Julius, about 70 kilometres north-east of Mount Isa.

Disaster assistance has been made available for five councils affected by flooding from the monsoonal rainfall.

The Queensland and Commonwealth governments have activated the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements for Carpentaria, Cloncurry, Flinders, McKinlay, and Richmond shire councils to cover the cost of emergency road repairs, essential public assets, and counter-disaster operations.

Authorities speak on flood coordination

The Queensland premier has convened the state disaster management committee, but said at this stage the weather event appeared to be less significant than the 2019 floods.

Speaking in Brisbane today, David Crisafulli said his main concerns were for roads and agriculture.

"There are 37 roads across the state that are out of action in different sections," he said.

"TheBruce Highwayhas been reopened, it was cut atSeymoreyesterday, but that section is tidal and could be out of action again."

The road betweenTownsvilleandRichmondis open, but west of Richmond is inundated.

TheKennedy Development Road,theGregory Developmental Road,theDiamantina,theGulf,and theBurke Development Roadsare all closed in sections.

Mr Crisafulli urged travellers to use the disaster.qld.gov.au website for up-to-date road information.

"Google maps doesn't know where the local impacts are. Listen to the locals who know," he said.

Mr Crisafulli said he believed Queensland was the most prepared it had ever been for a disaster season.

TheJundahpower station, which was inundated by outback flooding earlier this year, has been sandbagged.

"There are also a number of key locations where avgas [aviation fuel] has been provided ahead of time," Mr Crisafulli said.

Police Minister Dan Purdie said senior police officers had been sent toRichmond, Mount Isa,andInghamto help with the disaster coordination.

"We've got 37 expert swift water rescue crews pre-positioned, coupled with air assets from the fire department ready to help," Mr Purdie said.

Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said rail lines in the north and north-west could be closed for several days.

"TheMount Isaline is closed betweenHughendenandCloncurry, there is about 40 kilometres that's still underwater," Mr Mickelberg said.

"Passenger services on the northern line fromTownsvilletoCairns,and western line fromTownsvilletoMount Isahave been cancelled."

Mr Mickelberg said they had planned for cut-off roads and rail lines by sending freight trucks with food supplies up north even before this weather event.

"There's no need to go and panic buy," he said.

Drivers urged to be cautious on the roads

TheLandsborough HighwaybetweenCloncurryand theFlinders HighwayandLandsborough Highwayintersection toMcKinlayremains closed due to flooding, while theFlinders HighwayfromCloncurrytoJulia Creekand alsoRichmondtoJulia Creekalso remains closed to all traffic.

State disaster coordinator, deputy commissioner disaster and emergency management Chris Stream said the risk had "somewhat reduced" on the tropical coast, but the levels of theMulgrave, Herbert, Tully, and Bohleriverswere still a concern.

There is a severe weather warning for further rises in the coming days with heavy rainfall in theTully, Murray, and adjacent catchments.

On theMulgraveandRussell rivers, the BOM says minor flooding atPeets BridgeandGordonvaleis possible overnight.

The SES also conducted multiple call-outs in the 24 hours to 4am on Tuesday, assisting with tarping, sandbagging and fallen trees. The call-outs include 24 in Cairns, 22 in Townsville, 19 on the Cassowary Coast, 15 in Cloncurry and 10 in Mount Isa.

Residents in Far North Queensland are also impacted by power outages, with 285 people affected inEuluma Creek and Julatten, near Port Douglas, and about 160 people impacted inBramston Beach and Graham Range, south of Cairns.

The BOM's Shane Kennedy said the weather system would "peak" on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"The worst of it is expected to be north of Longreach and closer to the east coast mostly north of Bowen," Mr Kennedy said.

There are two severe weather warnings in Queensland, and multiple flood warnings.

Mr Kennedy said the north-west warning, from Kowanyama to Winton, was the more severe of the two with intense rainfall and damaging wind gusts.

Severe weather warnings in place

There was also a severe weather warning for intense rainfall on the north-east coast from about Townsville to north of Innisfail

Heavy rainfall, which may lead to flash flooding, is forecast for those areas, with two to six-hourly rainfall totals between 80 to 120mm likely, and isolated falls in excess of 180mm possible.

The areas that may be affected includeTownsville, Palm Island, Ingham, Cardwell, Tully, Rollingstone, Innisfail, Lucinda and Abergowrie.

Heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding is also forecast to continue in parts of theGulf Country, Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders, North West and Central Westforecast districts on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

The bureau warns locally intense rainfall could lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding, with six-hourly rainfall totals of up to 150mm possible for several areas, includingCloncurry, Richmond, Julia Creek and Stamford.

A major flood warning remains in place for theFlinders River, with flooding occurring at Walkers Bend.

Moderate flood warnings are also current for theCloncurry River, the Norman River, the Diamantina and Western River, and the Georgina River.

A more general flood watch is in place across north-western Queensland and the North Tropical Coast, with communities urged to prepare for potential road closures, community isolation and impacts to livestock.

Parts of north-west Queensland have recorded close to their average annual rainfall in the past week alone.

Cloncurry Airportrecorded 413mm in the seven days up to 9am today, just under its average rainfall of 500mm.

TheCassowary Coastwas hit by 362mm in the 24 hours to 9am, after getting another 369mm the day before.

Mr Kennedy said the tropical low should weaken from Wednesday and start to move south, bringing rain as far south as Windorah by Thursday.

How impacted communities are responding

Cassowary CoastMayor Teresa Millwood said the council had been repairing landslides in the Bingal Bay area and had reminded residents to be wary in floodwaters.

"We had some warnings from the SES this morning to be vigilant with crocodiles being around," she said.

The BOM's top gauges for the region in the 24 hours to 9am wereCowley Beachwith 362mm,Bingil Bayat 344mm, andSouth Mission Beachwith 312mm of rain.

"Most of the community members here have been very resilient, considering the amount of rain that we've had," she said.

Although theMission Beachcommunities were cut off for several hours on Monday, she reminded residents not to drive into floodwaters after one motorist had to be rescued from a car atBingal Bay.

She said there was one report of a home flooding, but said the residents said this was not uncommon for them.

Cr Millwood asked residents to continue reporting fallen trees.

TheCassowary Coastis famous for the large flightless birds, which give the shire its name, and they have been active in the wet weather.

"There's been plenty of cases of them crossing here, there, and everywhere. So be careful of them on the road," Cr Millwood said.

A spokesperson for Woolworths inMission Beachsaid while the milk supply was short on Monday, it had been topped up.

A bread delivery fromCairnswas successful on Tuesday, but a second load of bread from Townsville was unable to make it due to the closure of theBruce Highwayat the Seymour River at Bemerside, 100km north-west of Townsville.

Hinchinbrook ShireCouncil Mayor Ramon Jayo said travellers journeying north who are stranded in Ingham are welcome to use toilets and showers at the Showgrounds Pavilion.

"Inghamis open for business," he said.

Mr Jayo said the 100mm-plus falls in the region were all part of the normal wet season for the tropical north.

"We've had a very good soaking for our crops, and there's a heap of surface water around," he said.

"We've been very fortunate in that the rain has fallen on our coastal plains."

BOM senior forecaster Daniel Hayes confirmed most of the rain fell offshore overnight.

"But theInnisfailandInghamareas have topped out again with the bigger falls in the last 24 hours," he said.

"We'll probably start to see an easing of the rain over the land for that north tropical coast area."

While Mr Hayes expected the severe weather warning to be cancelled later on Tuesday, he said it may be replaced with severe thunderstorm and further flood warnings if rainfall intensifies.

But a strong wind warning is still current for theCairns coast.

SES warns against dangerous driving

The SES said its focus was on assisting communities innorth-west Queensland.

"I can seeMount IsaandCloncurrybeing our two priorities andNormantonandKarumbapretty much isolated by road, they will need crews in there," regional director Daryl Camp said.

"They now have major flooding in their area, so we expect the calls for assistance to go up."

Mr Camp begged motorists to follow the "If it's flooded, forget it" messaging.

"One where a person drove into floodwaters and their vehicle stalled … don't drive into flood waters, the car's electrics will fail, and you'll get stuck there," he said.

A motorist was also rescued after becoming stuck between Normanton and Croydon, grazier and SES volunteer Ashley Gallagher said.

"He was stuck in the middle of nowhere … luckily, they've got a booster tower over there, and he's got phone service so that he could ring people."

Outback communities cut off

TheFlinders HighwaylinkingTownsvilletoCloncurryis cut in several locations, leaving some rural towns isolated.

McKinlay ShireMayor Janene Feegan said her small north-west community ofJulia Creekhad become "an island".

The town has received 140.2mm of rain since 9am on Monday, flooding roads and stranding travellers.

"The wind is probably our biggest concern for graziers. It's howling," Ms Feegan said.

Julia Creekgrazier, Patrick Hick, said livestock on his Argyle Station had been facing tough conditions, including 60 km/h winds on Monday.

"We're up to 420mm for the week. Yesterday was a pretty tough day with continuous wind," he said.

"Livestock would have been OK yesterday [Monday], but by the end of today, if we don't see the wind drop right off, the rain stop, and if we don't see an improvement in the weather today, it's going to be really tough on livestock.

"They'll probably be right till late this afternoon, but if they have to go through another tough night, that's going to be really hard."

Mr Hick said if conditions did not ease, livestock could start becoming fatigued, which led to them facing the risk of becoming bogged in the black soil.

Wettest town in Australia soaked again

AtTully, dubbed one of the wettest towns in Australia, sugarcane grower Bryce McDonald measured more than 400mm in his rain gauge over the past few days.

"It's the first time this year I think the rain gauge has been full in one 24-hour period," he said.

He said the heavy rainfall was earlier in the season than expected and made it "impossible to do anything until it dries up".

"It's more February rain than December rain," he said.

"The rain will be a potential yield stopper until the sun comes out again."

While the town, about 200 kilometres north of Townsville, is still accessible,Tullyresidents are accustomed to being isolated after heavy falls.

Owner of the Tully IGA, Craig Teitzel, said it had been an "absolute hectic" few days as shoppers stocked up on essentials.

"It's probably like a Christmas Eve feel to it, there's people lined up everywhere, the trolleys are overflowing."

Mr Teitzel said while he kept a "buffer of stock" for severe weather events, the isolation could make it difficult to keep shelves stocked.

"The rail closes quite often now, so that makes it a challenge to everyone in north Queensland because it overloads the roads and makes it difficult for trucks to get to stores," he said.