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Flooding rainfall continues in northern Queensland

Jacobus Cronje, Sunday February 3, 2019 - 11:46 AEDT

A tropical low and active monsoon trough continue to bring flooding rain to northern QLD.

By 9am Sunday AEST, many stations had recorded 50-100mm of 24-hour rainfall, with a number of stations picking up 100-200mm. The heaviest falls appear to have occurred over the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, Peninsula, Herbert and Lower Burdekin, Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders, Gulf Country and Northwest districts.

The continued rainfall is on the back of staggering 24-hour totals of 100-200mm reported at 9am AEST on Saturday, representing more than a month's worth of rain for many stations. Falls exceeded this range in some parts, with Paluma receiving 261mm, and Mingela recording 369mm.

Since the start of February, many stations have reported more than twice their long-term average monthly rainfall. Townsville Airport and Mount Stuart in the Lower Burdekin both received in excess of 500mm so far, with surrounding stations receiving between 200-400mm. Mingela has received 855mm, almost three times its monthly average and its highest January rainfall since the station began recording in 1998.

Rain could start to contract slowly northward in coming days with the trough, although the low pressure system should linger and potentially deepen, likely bringing daily rainfall exceeding 50mm for at least some parts of the most flood-affected districts for the next week.

The relentless rainfall has brought widespread flooding to northern Queensland, including unprecedented flooding to Townsville. Flood watches and warnings are in place for nearly all catchments over the northern half of the state.

- Weatherzone

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