Cyclone brings joy and pain for inland graziers

Flooding rains from ex-cyclone Kirrily have brought heartache and relief to farmers in inland Queensland.

Ex-cyclone Kirrily turned Malvie Downs in western Queensland into an inland sea. Picture: Tony Batt

Five days after it made landfall, former cyclone Kirrily has dumped huge rainfall totals in western Queensland, swelling rivers, cutting off towns and flooding the region’s cattle stations.

More than 200mm of rain has fallen in the McKinlay region, 200km southeast of Mount Isa, causing the Hamilton and Diamantina rivers to fan out across their flood plains and inundate cattle properties on them.

In Kynuna, 70km southeast of McKinlay, stationhands had to be evacuated after some rain gauges recorded more than 400mm in the three days to Monday.

Grazier Tony Batt said this year’s watermark at Malvie Downs, between McKinlay and Julia Creek, was the highest on record, after 10mm of rain fell, leaving many of his cattle standing in muddy brown water.

Mr Batt, who lost 1700 cattle to floods in 2019, was not expecting to lose many cattle this time because the weather was warmer and the rain wasn’t followed by the cold winds that killed more than 500,000 cattle five years ago.

“We’re far enough north to be out of the crazy flooding but we had a lot of water, the highest ever,” Mr Batt said. “We’re sitting at the peak at the moment.

“We’re expecting virtually no losses because it hasn’t been cold. We flew over the property this morning to have a look and saw cattle standing in the water but they’re are in good condition and should last a week.

“Surely the water can’t stay up any longer than that.”

Ex-cyclone Kirrily turned Malvie Downs in western Queensland into an inland sea. Picture: Tony Batt

Mr Batt’s other property between Kynuna and McKinlay, Hamden, received 390mm of rain.

“We will have to repair fences, but I’ll take the floods before the drought,” he said.

Boulia mayor Rick Britton, who owns Goodwood Station, 1800km northwest of Brisbane, said the 40mm rain on his property on Monday night was very welcome but it had not been consistent throughout the region.

“The blokes to the east got the really bad heavy rain, us in the middle had really good rain and the poor buggers to the west didn’t get a drop,” he said.

“There’s cloud building here right now that if you poked with a stick, you could drown yourself.”

Mr Britton said water in the Diamantina and Hamilton rivers would eventually make its way down to Lake Eyre, bringing relief to graziers in the Channel Country on the way.

Queensland Agriculture Minister Mark Furner said farmers ­affected by flooding, including those closer to the coast, would have access to government support.

There has also been significant rain near Lightning Ridge in northwestern NSW on Monday, flooding the main street.