News

/News
8 02, 2019

Ridiculous Rainfall Accumulations Up To Day 12 Of The Townsville Floods

After 12 days of non basically non stop rain, it appears as though the event is finally over – from that perspective, as the flooding is still ongoing and will be for days, maybe even weeks in some areas. While we will have a full summary report done up over the next few days highlighting certain things (from a State perspective, not just Townsville, as North West QLD has some insanity from a numbers perspective that we wish to share), the past 12 days from a brief summary perspective have been well and truly historic for the Greater Townsville region.

 

Another day and night of continuous rain has lead to more falls of 100mm+ across Greater Townsville, and for the first time for the event, nobody “officially” recorded more than 200mm – we do need to acknowledge though that there were multiple reports coming into page of more than 300mm at Horseshoe Bay, Magnetic Island from multiple rounds of severe weather yesterday!

Top 24hr rainfall totals include:
• Clarke Range 186mm
• Bushland Beach 171mm
• Paluma 160mm
• Nelly Bay 154mm
• Toolakea 152mm
• Stony Creek 143mm
• Bluewater 141mm
• Townsville Airport 132mm
• Rollingstone 126mm
• Townsville City 118mm

24 hr Rainfall for Greater Townsville via BOM

 

 

Unless something dramatic happens over the next 24 hours, its unlikely these locations will add to their 12 day totals (i.e. make it a 13 day event). So the top-5 12 day accumulation totals are as follows:
• Paluma 2731mm
• Upper Bluewater 2347mm
• Rollingstone 2044mm
• Woolshed 2035mm
• Upper Black River 1955mm

12 day accumulative totals for the top 5 locations + Townsville City

Note: Paluma has a second gauge which also recorded welly over 2000mm however with multiple days now missing, we have elected to leave it out of the official data. The days it does have available for the previous 12 exceed 2000mm on their own anyway, but its likely that the station – give what it has, with whats its missing, cross checked with the valid Paluma gauge… it probably recorded something similar in the vicinity of 2600mm+
Its also worth noting that we have unofficial but reliable data coming out of Hervey Range where falls for the past 12 days have exceeded 2700mm as well. We will look to source that information more thoroughly over the next few days for posting purposes and for the finalised rainfall event summary blog over the weekend.

 

Perspectives and Streaks:
• Townsville has broken its 6 day, 7 day, 8 day, 9 day, 10 day, 11 day and 12 day accumulative records from this event. A final 12 day total of 1391.4mm has been observed.
• Townsville has also broken its February record of 960.8mm set in 2009 with 998.2mm already. 
• 5 locations (including the secondary Paluma gauge) cracked the 2m mark for rainfall.
• Over 115 locations that we know of, could be much more, broke the 1m mark for rainfall
• Upper Bluewater was the only location to crack 300mm+ on 3 individual days, multiple locations did it twice – some back to back
• Several locations recorded 3-4 consecutive days of 200mm+, Woolshed was the only location to achieve 5 straight days
• Upper Bluewater and Rollingstone recorded 10 straight days of 100mm, Paluma baring something unforeseen today, will have 12 straight days for the event. This “could” be an Australian record but the data to source through will take an extremely long time – we do know its more than any of Mount Bellenden Ker’s record breaking streaks. 
• Paluma’s 2731mm is likely the highest rainfall event (regardless of length) total for Australia outside of Mount Bellenden Ker who holds many records in that regard – it is also the highest rainfall event total since 1979 when Mt Bellenden Ker recorded 3847mm in 8 days
• We will keep the “x number of days since x location recorded 2731mm” for the main blog – but Paluma’s total is the equivalent of 16.5 years of “normal” rainfall at Birdsville – essentially, if youre in school right now, Birdsville hasn’t recorded that much rain since you were born. 

7 02, 2019

Paluma cracks the 2.5m mark! Rainfall Summary as of Feb 7th

Over the course of the last 24 hours, further heavy rain has impacted the Paluma region whilst the indication of increased rainfall over the Whitsunday and Central Coast region has finally (from a forecast accuracy perspective) come to fruition. Rainfall across the Townsville region thankfully has eased off and should continue to do so unless some isolated in nature throws a curveball.

 

 

Some of the top 24hr totals to 9am Thursday:
• Jubilee Pocket 292mm
• Cannonvale 202mm
• Clarke Range 200mm
• Preston 192mm
• Peter Faust Dam 188mm
• Lower Gregory 183mm
• Eungella 148mm
• Bowen Airport 135mm
• Sarina 103mm

 

24hr rainfall totals to 9am Thursday via BOM

 

As records keep rolling, Paluma has continued on with its insane run of accumulative totals. Paluma recorded 165mm in the 24hrs to 9am Thursday, this makes it the 11th consecutive day above 100mm for the station as well as now accumulating a grand total of 2571mm for this event! 

For clarification these are the 11 individual daily totals: 
January 28th – 160mm
January 29th – 230mm
January 30th – 370mm
January 31st – 143mm
February 1st – 222mm
February 2nd – 261mm
February 3rd – 281mm
February 4th – 175mm
February 5th – 384mm
February 6th – 180mm
February 7th – 165mm
Grand total – 2571mm

 

 

The past 24 hours has also ended the 100mm streaks of both Upper Bluewater (22mm) and Rollingstone (19mm). This leaves Paluma on its own with this streak now. Woolshed is also just 12mm shy of the 2000mm mark as well, with Upper Bluewater, Paluma and Paluma alert stations already above this feat. 

For some comparative purposes with Paluma’s 2.5m of rain: 
• Brisbane has recorded the same amount of rainfall between April 17th 2016 and February 7th 2019 (1027 days)
• Sydney has recored the same about of rainfall between July 7th 2016 and February 7th 2019 (976 days)
• Adelaide has recorded the same amount of rainfall between April 9th 2014 and February 7th 2019 (1766 days).
• Darwin has recorded the same amount of rainfall between November 15th 2017 and February 7th 2019 (450 days).
• In a normal year, Birdsville averages around 168.7mm – this would be the equivalent of Birdsville recording more than 15 consecutive “average” years (roughly 5570 days as its a little over 15 years).

 

11 day Rainfall Accumulative totals for the top 6 locations

 

6 02, 2019

Rainfall Summary for the Townsville Floods as of February 6th 2019

The rainfall totals that keep on keeping on.. even when it seemed like the bulk of it was over, another 50-150mm has fallen over the Townsville area overnight with up to 250mm in some isolated areas. Thankfully for those further South, the predicted 200mm+ didn’t come off, with models failing to pick the monsoon trough convergence movements – this limited the impacts further South, despite some high accumulative totals occurring over the past 10 days regardless of last night. 

 

 

The top 24hr totals up to 9am Wednesday include:
• Michael Creek 239mm
• Upper Stone 222mm
• Running Creek 199mm
• Rollingstone 187mm
• Paluma 180mm
• Eungella 150mm
• Widespread falls of 50-150mm across Greater Townsville
• Widespread falls of 50-100mm across the Whitsunday Peninsula (Proserpine, Airlie Beach) back into the Eungella Ranges

 

Greater Townsville 24hr rainfall via BOM

 

10 day accumulative totals:
• Paluma 2406mm
• Paluma Alert 2299mm
• Upper Bluewater 2213mm
• Woolshed 1962mm
• Rollingstone 1899mm
• Upper Black River 1891mm
• Mt Margaret 1721mm
• Sandy Plateau (highest in the Central Coast area) 1619mm
• Widespread falls of 1200-1700mm across the Greater Townsville area
Note: We have had unofficial totals of in excess of 2600mm from this event, sent in via private message from the Hervey Range area

 

10-day rainfall accumulation graph for the top 6 locations

 

 

Perspective for Paluma’s 2406mm:
• It is 1.4x Darwin’s annual total, its also just 300mm shy of Darwin’s record yearly total
• It is higher than the record yearly total for Townsville (2399mm in 2000)
• Its more than double Brisbane’s yearly average
• Its 2.5 years worth of rainfall for Sydney 
• It is the equivalent of 4.5 years worth of rainfall for Adelaide – Adelaide would also need to break its record for yearly rainfall for almost 3 consecutive years to match what Paluma has recorded in 10 days.
• Its almost 15 years worth of rainfall for Birdsville!

Additional Notes: 
• Paluma’s 2406mm is likely the highest rainfall event total (regardless of duration) from the past 40 years – since Mt Bellenden Ker recorded well over 3000mm.
• Upper Bluewater, Paluma and Rollingstone have maintained their run of 100mm days, with 10 consecutive now. While it would be a very lengthy process to check, there is every chance this is the highest consecutive tally of 100mm days for well over 20 years, possibly even over 50 years as many of the high end rain events didn’t cover 10 days over the past 70 years and Mt Bellenden Ker’s 3800mm in 1979 was over 8 days, not 10+. (Not sure why Paluma was removed from previous blogs with this streak – this was an oversight) – Several locations between Townsville / Ross River Dam and Ingham had a streak of 7-8 consecutive days of 100mm+ as well
• Upper Bluewater is still the only location to record 3 300mm+ days from this event. Woolshed still holds the highest consecutive 200mm days with 5.
• Well over 100 locations have now surpassed the 1000mm mark for this event
• Townsville is just 97mm shy of its wettest February in recorded history (960mm from 2009 is the record) and the 1257mm over the past 10 days for Townsville City is also well above the previous 10 day accumulative record for the City.

5 02, 2019

Over 2000mm Recorded In 9 days!

Just as things were calming down, a dangerous storm developed over the Bluewater region which has lead to another night of catastrophic flooding in the region! This has lead to both Paluma and Upper Bluewater surpassing the 2000mm mark for this rain event. Due to large discrepancies in rainfall data across several high end rain events in Australian and Queensland history, it is virtually impossible to determine whether or not a record has occurred. However this is the first time in a very long time – potentially 40 years that a location has recored 2000mm+ for a single rain event (cyclone or non cyclone) in Australia. The number of 1000mm locations is also continuing to claim as we complete day 9 and enter day 10 for this mind bogglingly wet period.

 

Top 24hr totals to 9am Tuesday: 
• Paluma 384mm
• Upper Bluewater 364mm
• Paluma Alert 344mm
• Rollingstone 239mm
• Keelbottom 222mm
• Upper Black River 214mm
• Upper Finch Hatton 208mm

24hr Rainfall Totals for Greater Townsville via BOM

 

Top 9 day rainfall totals, or the only 2 that really matter:
• Paluma 2192mm
• Upper Bluewater 2091mm

• For Paluma the 9 day totals individually are as follows: 160, 230, 370, 143, 222, 245, 303, 175 & 344 = 2192mm
• For Upper Bluewater the 9 day totals individually are as follows: 101, 138, 243, 376, 320, 173, 217, 159, 364 = 2091mm

 

Notes:
• Bluewater (2091mm) and Paluma (2192mm) have both exceeded the 2000mm mark, which is likely the first time since Mount Bellenden Ker back in 1979 that this feat has been achieved. There are large discrepancies in data from Mt Bellenden Ker which make it virtually impossible to determine when rainfall events start and end.
• The rainfall recorded at Paluma (ranked 1 over Upper Bluewater) has the equivalent of 13 years worth of rainfall in Birdsville.
• Townsville with 1175mm has now surpassed its annual average rainfall of 1129.6mm – all of that falling in just a 7 day bracket! 
• Over 85 locations have recorded in excess of 1000mm across the last 9 days. To see a handful of locations across a short period of time is ridiculous, this is on another level! 
• Rollingstone and Upper Bluewater have kept their streaks in tact with 9 consecutive days above 100mm. For Upper Bluewater this was the third day of 300mm+ which is currently the highest number of 300mm days for this event (a handful of locations are on 2)

 

4 02, 2019

Rainfall Summary February 4th – Townsville Flood Event

Over the past 24 hours we saw what was inevitably the nail in the coffin for the Dam as more than 400mm fell over the Dam Catchment area leading to the inevitable 100% gate opening as the volume of water that was going into the dam exponentially increased. Greater Townsville also copped another widespread 200mm with further rain still yet to come…

 

Some of the Top 24hr totals:
• Woodlands 402mm
• Nelly Bay 268mm
• Bluewater 245mm
• Louisa Creek 241mm
• Townsville City 233mm
• Kiran 229mm
• Aitkenvale 225mm
• Rollingstone 225mm
• Cardwell gap 223mm
• Bushland Beach 223mm
• Garbutt 222mm
• Reed Beds 220mm

Woodlands 400mm+ total for the 24hrs to 9am Monday. 300mm of that fell in under 4 hours during a dangerous storm. Image via BOM

 

 

Top 8 day totals: 
• Upper Bluewater 1731mm
• Paluma 1667mm
• Woolshed 1660mm
• Upper Black River 1500mm
• Mt Margaret 1472mm
• Rollingstone 1451mm
• Woodlands 1429mm
• Townsville City 1157mm

Greater Townsville 24hr totals via BOM

 

 

Notes:
• The 1731mm for Upper Bluewater is now within 250mm of becoming the #1 rain event in Australian history, currently ranked 3
• Townsville’s 1157mm is well and truly above the 10-day record with an obvious 2 days left for rainfall to occur across the City. The 7 day total of 1012mm up to 9am yesterday was a confirmed 7 day record as well
• This is the 8th straight day that a location between Mackay and Ingham has recorded in excess of 300mm, and the second consecutive day that somewhere has recorded over 400mm
• 63 locations have now broken the 1000mm mark for this event across the past 8 days, with another 12 on top of that over 900mm (75 locations all up). 
• Upper Bluewater and Rollingstone remain the only 2 locations to record 8 consecutive days above 100mm after Paluma recorded just 47mm and stopped at 7 consecutive days. Woolshed’s 200mm streak is also over with 106mm recorded in the 24hrs to 9am Monday morning. Paluma Dam has recored 7 of the past 8 day above 100mm with the 1 day remaining the 99mm on Thursday (1mm short). 

3 02, 2019

Rainfall Summary February 3rd 2019 – Townsville Flood Event

Over the past 24 hours, we’ve seen the effects of extreme rainfall rates over a localised area in a short to moderate period of time. This was indicated by Ingham recording over 500mm in a 24 hour period, most of that falling after sunset, with rates of more than 100mm/hr being recorded in Ingham and surrounds. The continuous rainfall over Greater Townsville has also lead to the City recording its wettest week in history – beating the Night of Noah by over 100mm!

 

Top 24 hour totals to 9am Sunday:
• Ingham Pump Station Alert 506mm
• Ingham Pump Station 457mm
• Halifax 416mm
• Gairloch 414mm
• Ingham Depot 373mm
• Paluma Dam 313mm
• Allingham Forrest Drive 312mm
• Cardwell Range 310mm
• Cardwell Gap 309mm
• Paluma Alert 303mm
• Whites Creek 293mm
• Paluma 281mm
• South Mission beach 271mm
• Nelly Bay 265mm
• Reeds Beds 247mm
• Lucinda Post Office 245mm
• The Pinnacles 239mm
• Mt Margaret 232mm
• Stuart Creek 227mm
• South Townsville 226mm

Ingham 500mm+ total

 

 

This has now lead to 39 locations surpassing the 1000mm mark for the past 7 days, some of these include:
• Paluma 1667mm
• Paluma Alert 1600mm
• Upper Bluewater 1568mm
• Woolshed 1554mm
• Upper Black River 1419mm
• Mt Margaret 1392mm
• Sandy Plateau 1290mm
• Rollingstone 1226mm
• Saunders Creek 1179mm
• Deeragun 1144mm
• Halifax 1106mm
• Ingham Pump Station 1092mm
• Townsville Airport 1012mm (see notes)

Additional Notes:
• In January 1998, when the ‘Night of Noah’ occurred. Townsville recorded 913.2mm in a 7 day period which including the Night of Noah itself (548.8mm overnight). The Townsville Airport recorded 886.2mm during that 7 day period as well – this is believed to be the wettest 7 day period for Townsville since records began in the area. The current 7 day period has recorded 1012mm which has clearly beaten this milestone quite comfortably
• Paluma’s total of 1667mm or the Paluma Alert total of 1600mm – both fit the criteria – rank this as the third wettest event in Australian history (QLD hold the top 5-7 titles of rain events in Australia). This places it above the 1318mm at Mt Glorious in 1974 and just behind Mount Bellenden Ker 1870mm (1999) and 1947mm (1979). There is every chance that based off of forecasts, that the 1947mm total could be reached.
• This is now 6 consecutive days that someone across the Ingham to Mackay region has recorded in excess of 300mm. 
• Paluma, Paluma Alert, Upper Bluewater, Rollingstone have all recorded 7 consecutive days above 100mm, Paluma Dam falling 1mm short (99mm on Thursday) of this feat as well. Multiple locations have recorded at least 5 consecutive days above 100mm.
• Woolshed has now recoded 5 consecutive days above 200mm (totalling 1350mm in 5 days)
• 3 days into the month and this is already the wettest February in 10 years (2009) for Townsville City – the total of 960mm that month is also the benchmark (current record) for February and based off current forecasts, theres no reason Townsville won’t surpass that.

 

Further good falls have also been recored North of Mount Isa. Models were indicating an area (and still are) of excessive rainfall just North of the highway running from Mt Isa to Cloncurry. These model predictions are now coming to fruition. 
• Gereta Station 232mm (512mm in 3 days)
• Julius Dam 204mm (462mm in 3 days)
• Kamilaroi 146mm (368mm in 3 days)
• Gunpowder 145mm
• Miranda Creek 138mm (478mm in 3 days)
• Doughboy Creek 128mm
• Dugald River 128mm
• Cloncurry 106mm (269mm in 2 days)

North West QLD Rainfall totals to 9am Sunday February 3rd via BOM

 

1 02, 2019

Ross River Dam Breaks Its Record!

The Ross River Dam as of Friday, February 1st 2019, has officially broken its record height. Overnight, the dam was sitting just below record levels, but after another burst of excessive rainfall over a few hours this morning directly over the catchment area – dam levels quickly rose again to the tune of 24cm (just under 1 foot) in less than 2 hours – thats while water is being released. Above image showing Ross River Dam on January 31st by Brooks Steff.

 

Ross River Dam Height via BOM

 

 

 

This excessive rainfall pushed the overall total up to 40.97m, and since then the dam has now risen further to 41.11m as of 10:27am this morning. This has smashed the previous record of 40.73m set back in March of 2012. This extra meterage so to speak has also activated “Stand Up 2” in the Ross River Dam Emergency Action Plan conducted by Sunwater. What “Stand Up 2” represents is accelerated gate opening – essentially the gates have now been opened further. What this will end up doing is easing pressure which is now being put on the dam from the excessive amount of water that is flowing into it from various sources as well as rainfall directly over the catchment. The critical mark that is idealistically avoided is 43.6m. Gates become fully  (100%) open at 42.5m, however 43.6m is the critical level that is trying to be avoided – the need to avoid that level may lead to further downstream flooding over the next several days – please be understanding of that situation.

 

Emergency Plan Stages via Sunwater for the Ross River Dam

 

 

 

In the short term, this is likely to accelerate the flooding downstream, as the water being released is required to be released so that the longer term effects aren’t as drastic. Places like Aplin Weir as a result of this surged to 2.01m this morning but have since dropped back down to 1.81m. This broke the Aplin Weir record of 1.77m!  We are also now seeing increased major flooding over the Bohle River where flood levels have hit 7.45m and still rising at a 45º angle. This will likely make the level exceed the February 2007 mark of 7.55m today (potentially in the next few hours), however there is still a bit to go before the January 1998 level is nudged (8.23m).

 

 

Aplins weir is a bit crazy today!

Posted by Shi-Anne Marshall on Thursday, 31 January 2019

1 02, 2019

Multiple locations break 1m rainfall totals after 5 days!

Another day of excessive rainfall has occurred over the North QLD region between Cardwell and Bowen as well as North of Mackay over Central QLD as the monsoon trough lingers in the region. This has now lead to multiple locations pushing or exceeding the 1000mm mark over the past 5 days, with forecasts suggesting another 1000mm+ is possible for some isolated to scattered locations over the next week.

 

The heaviest falls have occurred around the Greater Townsville region once again.
24 hour totals include:
• Upper Black River 336mm
• Upper Bluewater 320mm
• Woolshed 286mm
• Mt Margaret 278mm
• Bluewater 274mm
• Woodlands 267mm
• Louisa Creek 245mm
• Vincent 244mm
• Townsville Airport 239mm
• The Lakes 227mm
• The Pinnacles 226mm
• Gordon Creek 226mm
• Garbutt 225mm
• Kirwan 223mm
• Stuart Creek 223mm
• Paluma 222mm
• Paluma Alert 222mm
• Gleesons Mill 221mm
• Cluden 221mm
• Whites Creek 216mm
• Townsville City 216mm

Greater Townsville Rainfall via BOM in the 24hrs to 9am Friday

 

 

This has lead to some exceptional 5 day totals now across the Greater Townsville / North QLD area as well as areas between Mackay and Proserpine where multiple locations have recorded over 1m of rain!

5 day totals include:
• Sandy Plateau 1249mm
• Upper Bluewater 1178mm
• Paluma 1125mm
• Paluma Alert 1052mm
• Upper Black River 1003mm
• Woolshed 985mm
• Stafford Crossing 919mm
• Forbes Road 903mm
• Upper Major Creek 870mm
• Rollingstone 841mm
• For interest sake – Townsville City’s 5 day rainfall total is now 608mm.

Queensland Rainfall via BOM in the 24hrs to 9am Friday

 

 

Additional Notes: 
•Upper Black River and Upper Bluewater have both now recorded back to back 300mm days
• Woolshed has now recorded back to back 286mm days
• The 216mm in Townsville City is the highest 24hr total for the gauge in 10 years (February 2009)
• Woolshed has now recored back to back to back 200mm days, and subsequently broken its January record for rainfall
• The 445mm for January in Townsville (yesterdays 216mm doesn’t count to the January total, it counts towards February) was the wettest January in 10 years for Townsville
• Upper Bluewater, Paluma, Forbes Road have all recorded 5 straight days of 100mm+, Sandy Plateau has recorded 4 straight days of 175mm+

It wasn’t just North QLD that received phenomenal rain, with overnight rain periods and storms accounting for excessive totals over North West QLD also!
• Miranda Creek (near Mt Isa) 265mm 
• Gereta Station 186mm
• Kamilaroi 152mm
• Lake Julius 151mm
• Hulberts Bridge 137mm (341mm in 3 days)
• Normanton 133mm
• Nardoo 120mm
• Richmond 113mm (260mm in 4 days)
• Normanton Airport 108mm
• Cloncurry 71mm

North West QLD Rainfall showing Miranda Creek with 265mm! Image via BOM

 

31 01, 2019

Townsville Declared A Disaster Zone!

This afternoon, Thursday January 31st 2019, Townsville has been declared a disaster zone by the Queensland government and has urged all businesses and schools to allow people to stay home if possible.

 

 

An emergency briefing was put in place earlier today where the decision was made in the best interest of everyone involved for the area to be declared a disaster zone. This disaster declaration has lead to closing of all schools across Greater Townsville during Friday. This has come after the official advice from the Bureau of Meteorology indicated that there was a further potential for rainfall in the vicinity of 600-900mm over the next 5 days on top of already major flooding and completely saturated grounds. This kind of situation needs the utmost respect, especially when dealing with people who are in the area of highest concern. Annastacia Palaszczcuk was quoted stating that “we need to ensure everyone’s safety”. 

 

 

Despite rainfall easing for the time being, there is the potential for rapid increases in rainfall intensity to occur suddenly as the convergence zone shifts around. In general, the concern for us at Higgins Storm Chasing is that the convergence zone is remaining firmly situated over the general area – so while one area may see a reprieve for some time, another area may soon be under the pump and this in general will cause the area to be impacted through several river and creek systems, not just one. 

What the ‘disaster zone declaration entails’ is police now have the ability to use stronger powers if need to be for evacuation purposes. Police themselves have urged people so far to stay home unless its an absolute necessity. If people are required to drive around, then common sense and respect needs to be shown, with people avoiding flood waters and following the slogan, if its flooded, forget it – or – turn around down drown! 

There will be another meeting tomorrow morning around 10am Brisbane time at the KedronDisaster Management Office to assess the situation and to report on any changes to the live situation as well as the futuristic potential. 

 

 

River Flood Levels via BOM showing Major Flooding over Greater Townsville

31 01, 2019

12:45PM 31/1/19 QLD Update – NQLD Rain + NW QLD Storms

(Above image via Weatherzone) At 12:30pm on Thursday, January 31st… Radar was indicating that Townsville was remaining under the pump with continuous moderate to heavy rain impacting the region. Falls in the vicinity of 50-100mm have become widespread since 9am with further heavy falls of 100-200mm likely during the course of today given model data is indicating that the convergence zone over the region is unlikely to ease anytime soon. Even heavier falls are possible and this will likely start to push rivers and creeks towards major levels (for those who aren’t at major) and record breaking (for those who are already in major and under the influence of the heavier falls this morning).

CLICK HERE TO BECOME A HIGGINS STORM CHASING SUBSCRIBER

 

As a result of the continuous rainfall this morning, people in the town of Giru are being advised (not forced yet) to seek higher ground with the river likely to break its record this afternoon in town. Its also advised that motorists across Greater Townsville be smart and safe and avoid any flash flooding at all costs – there is a significant amount of debris coming through with this flooding and even if your car can handle it (as many people have 4WD’s), it may not be able to handle the debris.

 

Weatherzone radar showing converging rain areas impacting the Greater Townsville to Ayr region.

 

 

Across North West QLD and the Peninsula, the centre of the tropical low is located roughly North of Mount Isa. This low is creating scattered storms across the Western Peninsula, Gulf of Carpentaria and North West of QLD. Some of these are likely to become severe and a warning is already issued for heavy rain in the area. This is mostly due to a combination of heavy rainfall rates and slow movement. Flash flooding is likely under many storms.

 

 

Copyright 2019 Higgins Storm Chasing | All Rights Reserved | Powered by NetVirtue