‘Inland lakes’ as Queensland’s western outback drenched with a year’s worth of rain

The Bureau of Meteorology warns people in the deserts and channel country of the far south-west of Queensland could be isolated for days after flooding rains from a slow-moving weather system. Photograph: Roger Volz/Severe Weather QLD

An unusually slow-moving weather system has dragged monsoonal rain from tropical north Queensland to the state’s south-western outback, already dumping a year’s worth of rain in places in a matter of days – with the promise of more to come.

So widespread is the deluge that, by Sunday, the entire sunshine state was expected to be sodden with more than 100mm of rain, Dean Narramore, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology said on Tuesday morning.