Qld weather: Widespread rainfall forecast, as major flooding continues
Dozens of people have had to be evacuated from their homes and vehicles, as torrential rain continues to pummel western Queensland.
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Dozens of people have had to be evacuated from their homes and vehicles, as torrential rain continues to pummel western Queensland.
The Queensland Fire Department and Swift Water Rescue crews have been working around the clock to rescue residents of flooded areas in the state’s west.
On Thursday alone, 28 people were airlifted from the now-underwater town of Adavale to nearby Quilpie.
Firefighters and other rescue personnel were flown in on helicopters to help with evacuations.
Friday’s rescue efforts were mostly in Jundah, with a handful of locals being flown to Longreach.
QFD and SWR crews also rescued several people in the Gympie and Mackay regions, after both received massive rainfalls.
One person in Foulden, Mackay, was driving across a floodplain when they were swept away by the current.
SWR firefighters found the person standing on the roof of their car before bringing them to safety.
Premier David Crisafulli, in Quilpie on Friday, said the flood was worse than 1974 with widespread destruction across west and north west Queensland.
Personal hardship assistance was activated in the Barcoo, Bulloo, Quilpie and Winton council areas.
“My message to these communities is you are small in numbers but you are big in what you do for our state, both in the economic and social fabric,” the Premier said.
“We will see this through, this will be a long-term recovery operation for a large part of Queensland.”
Mr Crisafulli said aircraft and swift water rescue crews had been deployed.
Hundreds of thousands of acres of country has been inundated which Mr Crisafulli tipped would affect about one million cattle and one milion sheep.
“It is always about people in an event ... we do have a crisis when it comes to the impact of agriculture,” he said.
“We could see stock losses into the hundreds of thousands.
“Agriculture underpins these communities and they’re going to need help.
“It’s really going to test this community.”
Gregory MP Sean Dillion said the effect of the flood on agriculture would last “two years at least”.
Thousands of kilometres of livestock fencing has been destroyed and a major effort will soon begin to get fodder to livestock to limit deaths.
Residents of outback town Jundah moved to higher ground at the golf club as the Thomson River continues to rise, with authorities considering possibly evacuating them from the area.
As of 12.40pm on Friday, the Thomson River was at 7.9m and rising.
Emergency services including police and swift water rescue crews are on standby to assist any evacuation efforts.
The conditions in outback Queensland come as Brisbane was smashed by heavy rainfall on Friday afternoon, sparking fears of flash flooding.
The weather put a dampener on the Dolphins and Brisbane Broncos clash at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Flood releases from Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine Dams are possible over the weekend and into early next week as a result of rainfall.
Large swathes of Queensland experienced rainfall overnight, with the heaviest falls recorded near Mackay and Townsville.
Since 9am on Thursday in the Mackay region, 274mm was recorded at Teemburra Dam, 225mm at O’Connell, 204mm at Antoneys Crossing, 200mm at Stafford Crossing, 180mm at Dingo Beach, 175mm at Preston, 152mm at Mirani Weir, 126mm at Proserpine, while 135mm fell at Horseshoe Bay near Townsville.
Rainfall between 50 to 150mm was also recorded between Gympie and the Sunshine Coast with the heaviest falls including 235mm at Mt Wolvi, 141mm at Wahpunga Lane, 120mm at Palmwoods, 101mm at Mapleton, and 107mm at Poona Dam.
It comes after heavy rainfall in inland Queensland on Thursday caused major flooding, breaking a 50-year flood level at the Thomson River at Stonehenge, while 27 people were evacuated from the outback town of Adavale.
Speaking earlier on Friday from Winton, Premier Crisafulli told Sunrise that communities across inland Queensland were likely to experience more flooding over the coming days.
“They’re not out of the woods yet, some of the rain systems look like they’ll continue certainly into the weekend and you have big river systems where the water flows through,” he told Sunrise.
“There are communities that could be experiencing flooding today, tomorrow and even, indeed, a couple of days’ time.
“Our eyes are focused on a little community called Jundah where it’s likely to top the 1974 flood levels.”
Originally published as Qld weather: Widespread rainfall forecast, as major flooding continues
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