A man has been pulled from flood waters and calls for help are rising in Queensland’s north as authorities warn record May rainfall may lead to “dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding” in the region.
A flood watch was in place on Tuesday for much of tropical and inland Queensland. The state’s fire and emergency services assistant commissioner, Andrew Short, said crews had responded to 39 calls for help in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning, with the most intense downpours to shift east on Wednesday.
“We believe that because of … what’s playing out in front of us, we’re going to see those numbers go up,” he told ABC radio.
Short urged people against driving into flood waters after the rescue of a man in his 20s who became trapped in Mount Isa around 11pm on Monday.
“Think about your family, think about those around you, think about the rescuers who actually are going to have to come and help you in that event,” he said.
A severe weather warning was issued from Cairns to Cloncurry, and from Croydon in the north and south to Carnarvon, as an unseasonably moist north-easterly combined with an upper trough, producing a rain band over central Queensland.
Flash flooding was likely, with six-hour rainfall totals of up to 100mm forecast from Wednesday and falls of up to 150mm possible in central-west and north-west districts.
“Locally intense rainfall with embedded thunderstorms which may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is also possible for the central west and parts of the north west districts,” the Bureau of Meteorology said in an alert.
“Some locations including Townsville, the Central West, Herbert/Burdekin and the Sunshine Coast may receive their highest May rainfall on record this week.”
Ben Domensino, a Weatherzone meteorologist, said parts of central-western Queensland could get five times the monthly average of rainfall in a matter of days.
“It’s very unusual to have a rainfall event of this magnitude in Queensland in May,” Domensino said. “May is typically the time of year you’ve moved out of the wet season.
“Longreach averages 23mm of rain during an entire month – there’s potential to see more than 200mm over the next 24 to 48 hours.”
Severe Weather Warning issued for the Central West and North West, including #Longreach, #Winton and #Richmond. Heavy rainfall to develop overnight, leading to flash and riverine flooding. Widespread impacts to transport anticipated, make preparations now. https://t.co/AIjm0HhHlB pic.twitter.com/XQbdgzn50E
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) May 9, 2022
Major flooding was likely in some areas from Tuesday evening, which could cause widespread transport disruptions in central-western Queensland. Longreach, Clermont, Winton, Charters Towers, Townsville, Georgetown, Hughenden, Richmond, Julia Creek, Collinsville, Ingham and Innisfail were forecast to be hardest hit by the storms.
A severe weather warning was also in place for the gulf country, northern goldfields and upper Flinders regions. Six-hourly falls between 60mm and 100mm were likely.
If you know you’ll be out and about next week, have a Plan B so you know what to do if you’re faced with flooded roads on your usual way to work, home, or school. Remember, if it’s flooded, forget it!https://t.co/AK5BdTC3JV
— Qld Fire & Emergency (@QldFES) May 7, 2022
📸 Dalby (file image) pic.twitter.com/JwfFCHUxsK
There were 10 flood warnings in place across the state on Tuesday morning, including possible major flooding along the Cooper Creek at Windorah, south of Longreach.
About 31 catchments in northern, western and eastern Queensland north of Bowen were on flood watch, with some still experiencing flooding from recent weather events.
Domensino said the prolonged period of rain would last until Friday or Saturday, with some unpredictability towards the end of the event depending on where the upper level trough moved.
“Tuesday it’s inland, Wednesday it’s moving towards the coast and Thursday and Friday [is] a bit harder to predict,” he said.
“Some models have it over the central coast and some down near the south-east coast by Friday. Some models are predicting the heaviest rain to be up over the central coast or down near south-east Queensland including Brisbane.
“The weather warning is likely to extend farther east towards central coast or north tropical coast on Wednesday … that means there’ll be rain right up and down the coast from Cape York to the south-east.”
The landscape in south-east Queensland is still saturated, which would make it more prone to flooding in the event of heavy rain, Domensino said.
“Soil moisture is above average for most of Queensland at the moment,” he said. “And in the west of state it’s very flat … You’d expect on Wednesday that much rain falling over flat areas would likely cut off roads and cause quite a lot of flash flooding and riverine flooding.”
River levels were easing in the Thomson, Barcoo and Cooper catchments but renewed level rises were possible from Tuesday onwards as further heavy rainfall hit the region.
The Cooper Creek’s main channel was sitting at 5.26 metres and falling on Monday afternoon, but was expected to remain above the major flood level of five metres into Tuesday.
River rises were expected to remain above the Diamantina Lakes causeway with heavy rainfall forecast for the upper Diamantina and Western River catchments throughout the week.
While river levels were easing along the upper Diamantina River, they were rising farther downstream with thunderstorms and possible heavy falls forecast for coming days.
A moderate flood warning was also in place for Eyre Creek, with minor flooding possible at the Georgina River south of Mount Isa.
The BoM said there was still uncertainty about where the heaviest falls would be later in the week, with warnings to “continue to be refined” in coming days.
Domensino said La Niña was “fuelling” the weather event as it was causing more moisture to flow towards Australia.
“Climate change is more of a background signal to all the weather events we’re experiencing,” he said.
