Qld floods: North staring down barrel of 300mm falls
A search and rescue mission is underway in NQ for a man who drove into flood waters while the region braces for an active monsoon trough expected to dump falls of up to 300mm.
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North Queensland residents are facing a renewed flood threat, with an active monsoon trough expected to dump up to 300mm in some areas by Tuesday.
Life-threatening flash flooding is once again possible as the trough extends from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the tropical east coast near Townsville, threatening to bring a deluge to regions already soaked from last week’s flooding.
So far the catastrophic floods have claimed two lives, and hundred of residents have been forced to evacuate.
A search and rescue operation is underway after two men abandoned their vehicle in flood waters near a popular creek in north Queensland.
It’s understood two men had drove into flood waters in Crystal Creek at Ollera Creek north of Townsville about 9.45pm on Monday.
Emergency services are currently searching the surrounding areas to locate the vehicle and the men.
One man has been located while police continue the search for the second man.
Residents are urged to avoid the area so as not to interfere with the search efforts.
Overnight, a temporary bridge built by the Australian Defence Force to reconnect the Bruce Highway at Ollera Creek opened, with some 300 vehicles able to make the crossing, carrying vital supplies north and south.
Bureau of Meteorology general manager Matt Collopy warned the trough continued to drive the risk of heavy rain for flood-affected areas between Townsville and Cardwell.
He said some areas had likely already broken monthly rainfall records in the past 10 days, with several locations receiving more than 1500mm in this time.
“The rainfall is really being driven in the higher context by a low embedded within the monsoon trough,” he said.
“That low is currently sitting near the Gulf Country near Normanton, (and) is expected to move east tonight (Monday) to around Georgetown and then further east on Tuesday towards the Townsville coastal area.
“Rainfall totals in 24 hours associated with this low are expected to reach 100 to 250 millimetres in 24 hours, with possible falls up to 300 millimetres through to Tuesday.
“Warnings for both the flooding, as well as that severe weather warning are likely to change quickly and evolve over the next couple of days.”
In the 24 hours from Sunday to Monday, some areas including Rollingstone received more than 140mm of rain, while 75mm fell near Ingham where clean-up efforts were under way.
There were warnings in place for half a dozen dams across Far North Queensland on Monday, as well as the Herbert, Upper Burdekin, Haughton, Flinders and Cape rivers.
Mr Collopy said the low was not likely to form into a tropical cyclone as it moved east off the Queensland coast, with a significant decrease in rainfall for affected areas by Wednesday.
As clean-up continued in flood-ravaged areas on Monday. A transportable, temporary village for up to 90 emergency services personnel was established in Ingham to aid the ongoing response to the Hinchinbrook flood.
Queensland Fire and Rescue Service station officer Paul Dunn from the Gold Coast, also a member of the Disaster Assistance Response Team, said the “flexible habitat” had been deployed at the Ingham Showgrounds gymnasium to support anyone in the field during the disaster.
“The Flexible Habitat, people refer to it as a ‘tent city’, has the capacity to cater up to 90 people in the field, plus the management team,” he said.
The temporary town is comprised of nine large tents that could each sleep up to 10 people. Mr Dunn said the Townsville-based habitat had been deployed to Ingham, while the Brisbane-based habitat was operating in Townsville.
The Australian Defence Force has installed a temporary crossing to reconnect the Bruce Highway lifeline at Ollera Creek, but Queensland Police has advised heavy vehicles and truck drivers to not continue driving there as it could cause congestion for repair vehicles.
“Currently, there is a six- to seven-hour repair window for construction work to be undertaken on the Ollera Creek Bridge, which has been damaged as a result of flooding caused by the ongoing weather event,” a QPS post said.
Truck drivers are urged to utilise truck stops to minimise delays after 300 heavy vehicles carrying essential goods and equipment were able to travel over the temporary bridge overnight.
“This morning the critical work continues and weather permitting, the bridge will be open to general public this afternoon,” the post said.
Premier David Crisafulli saying crews had worked around the clock, but he warned the location of the permanent replacement needs to be carefully considered.
“It means not replacing things to the same standard and same location and expecting a different result Nat, that’s what that looks like and people would’ve seen that image of what’s called Ollera Creek the bridge there where it was dangling by a thread,” Mr Crisafulli tolde Sunrise.
“Now why would you replace a bridge to that standard and expect a different result, so we have done a couple of things. The first we moved the army in there and the partnership there was quite frankly incredible. That allowed some of the emergency service vehicles to get through.”
Since it reopened, the temporary bridge has allowed for 169 trucks to travel north and 115 south, carrying vital supplies.
“That’s the difference between team communities like Cairns having fresh fruit and vegetables and meat today,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“Look, that was a huge logistical effort, but what I am talking about is when we go to replace it long term, let’s do it better, let’s make it higher, longer and stronger and build some resilience.
“We need to look all the way across the Bruce Highway and find those pinch points and you are never going to flood proof it and never going to make it completely bulletproof. But we can make it a whole lot better than what we have for many many years.”
Meanwhile, Ergon Energy established plans to restore power for 1600 customers in Ingham by Monday night, following efforts to gain access to failing substations.
Emergency crews have been attempting to restore damaged sections of their network in Ingham, Paluma and Lucinda that were taken out by significant rainfall last week.
While a reprieve in rainfall is within sight, the impacts from the floods are expected to be felt at the register and in the construction and farming industries in the foreseeable future.
Diana Castorina, a lecturer of Economics in College of Business Law and Governance at JCU, said the effects of the floods would be felt in multiple industries within the coming months.
Supply issues may lead to an increase in demand, worsening the supply choke and driving up prices, she said.
The farming industry also took a beating from the rain, with crops across the region damaged, and will likely add pressure for consumers at the checkout.
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