Gladstone weather: 117mm at airport within hours and more rain forecast

Severe weather is impacting much of Central Queensland and a whopping 117mm was recorded near Gladstone Airport. Local residents claim their rain gauges have exceeded 130mm. WATCH THE VIDEO

Large parts of the Gladstone region were lashed by heavy rainfall overnight and records are set to tumble following more than 115mm dumped near Gladstone Airport.

Suburbs such as Clinton, Benaraby, and Beecher received concentrated heavy falls in excess of 120mm, according to the locals, as the weather system stretched right across Central Queensland.

It comes as Central Highlands residents were urged to prepare for flash flooding as severe storms with heavy rainfall battered the already drenched region for the second night in a row, knocking out power in some areas.

More than 117mm was recorded at Gladstone Airport overnight, with more rain expected leading into the weekend. Picture: The Observer

Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Helen Reid said there had been plenty of rainfall across the Gladstone region and there was certainly potential for records to be broken.

“It is still raining and we’re looking at it continuing to be raining or thunderstorming through the course of the day,” Ms Reid said.

Ms Reid said Gladstone Airport may have broken its October rainfall daily record.

“It’s still raining through there … It does look like it‘s exceeded it, but just by how much (is unknown).”

She said it appeared Gladstone Airport had the highest recorded rainfall of The Bureau’s unchecked weather stations across Queensland in the 24 hours to 9am Thursday.

A view of Gladstone's Queensland Alumina Ltd from a lookout on Wednesday morning, ahead of more heavy rainfall on Wednesday evening. Picture: Nilsson Jones

Clinton resident, Steve Hewlett watched the downpour from his place overnight where more than 125mm was captured by his rain gauge.

Despite the heavy falls, there were no delays reported at Gladstone Airport due to bad weather.

SES Gladstone controller, Doug Savage told The Observer there were no swift water rescues conducted or major flash flooding reports in the region.

“There was certainly a lot of rain but thankfully there were no calls for assistance and I didn’t have to go out and play in the rain,” Mr Savage said.

The local SES have reported no calls for assistance overnight. Picture: Larah Fedalto

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Gladstone will remain cloudy with a very high chance of showers on Thursday, with thunderstorms expected during the late afternoon and evening.

Gladstone will reach a high of 26 degrees with east/northeasterly winds from 15 to 25 km/h.

Rainfall totals

Gladstone Airport – 117mm

Benaraby – 91mm

Gladstone – 89mm

Awoonga Dam 62mm

Seventeen Seventy – 58mm

Boyne Island – 53mm

Calliope – 51mm

Miriam Vale – 32mm

Raglan 24mm

*Rainfall totals from the Bureau of Meteorology’s unchecked automatic weather stations.