Tears, anguish and a croc in the street as record floods swamp north
Two men last seen near a flooded drain are feared to have been swept away in Townsville.
Two men are feared to have been swept away floodwater in Townsville’s west early Monday morning after they were last seen near a flooded drain.
Police have appealed for information about the whereabouts of Hughie Morton, 21, and Troy Mathieson, 23, who left the scene of an alleged break-in to a bottle shop on Ross River Road in Aitkenvale just after 3am, when floodwaters were at their highest.
A third man was arrested at the scene.
“Extensive enquiries today with family and friends have failed to locate the men,” police said in a statement.
“A water and land search has commenced of flood waters and the general area as a precaution.”
Townsville residents face an anxious wait overnight as the tide rises and water continues to be released from Ross River Dam.
Monsoonal rain which has lashed the region for a week eased slightly today but forecasters warned falls of between 100mm and 200mm could still fall between Ingham and Mackay over the next 24 hours.
Schools in the region will remain closed today but the Townsville Airport, which was closed to all flights on Sunday afternoon was reopened about 2pm this afternoon.
Rain is predicted to fall for the rest of the week, but the monsoon trough that hovered over Townsville for a week is expected to move southwards.
The dam, which was at 64 per cent capacity on January 28, reached a peak of 247 per cent on Sunday before the council fully opened the floodgates.
Floodwater receded slightly today as police, emergency services and the army worked to help ferry trapped residents to safety.
Dozens of cars with trailers lined the Bruce Highway as they unloaded tinnies into floodwater in the low-lying suburb of Fairfield.
The tinnies were used to ferry people, pets and valuables to safety.
Rugby league players from the North Queensland Cowboys and Townsville Blackhawks joined in to help get residents from flooded homes to dry land.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Katarina Carroll said authorities had conducted 18 swift water rescues and assisted with more than 1,100 relocations since Sunday.
Dozens of private tinnies ferrying people and pets from their flooded homes in Idalia #townsville #floods pic.twitter.com/zDzHe2tKBA
— Charlie Peel (@charliepeeled) February 4, 2019
More than 400 people were rescued overnight, and scores more evacuated out of their homes by army and police in the morning as Townsville braces for rising flood waters from unrelenting monsoonal rains.
2000 properties are estimated to have been inundated in some way in the wake of yesterday’s forced-release of Townsville’s over capacity dam.
Authorities yesterday told residents of at least 20 suburbs — with about a quarter of the city’s 82,000 homes — to evacuate ahead of today’s expected peak at 11am (AEST) when the high tide combines with rising flood waters from the Ross River, which snakes through Townsville.
Almost 20 people were rescued overnight by swiftwater rescue crews.
The floodgates for the Ross River Dam remain fully open, releasing 2000 cubic metres of water per second.
At least one of the city’s six evacuation centres is now full, with at least 1000 residents seeking shelter in the past 24 hours.
The Australian this morning watched army personnel and police in armoured personnel carriers, going to house to house in the flooded suburbs of Hermit Park to help evacuate residents.
Several elderly people were taken to evacuation centres, but some residents are still refusing to leave their flooded homes.
Two police and two ambulance officers also had to be rescued after they were stranded in the flood disaster overnight while themselves trying to help others.
Freshwater crocs have also been spotted in the floodwaters.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is convening a disaster management meeting in Townsville, and says emergency services faced gale force winds and torrential rain overnight.
“Townsville has never seen the likes of this,” she said.
Forecasters are closely watching the monsoon trough that has caused the disaster, amid fears it could form into a cyclone if it moves over the sea. “If it moves out to the sea, it could develop into a cyclone,” the premier told the Seven Network.
“These are early days and we won’t know for certain until the next few days.”
The trough is expected to move slowly south.Communities could see intense rain from Ingham as far south as Bowen, and even Mackay.
A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the trough could move back into the Coral Sea on Friday.
The weather system is also dumping welcome rain on drought-hit parts of western Queensland. Infrastructure damage there appears mainly confined to the road network.
Tina Stephensen was rescued from her Hermit Park apartment, in Townsville’s southeast, as floodwater rose “halfway up the letter box pole”.
“I’m on the top unit but I could see it rising,” she said tearfully. “It’s just too much for me.”
Further heavy rainfall with six-hourly totals between 150mm to 200mm is forecast to fall in the region today, further swelling already saturated creek and river catchments.
The bureau said atmospheric conditions were “ripe for tornadoes and waterspouts” around Townsville, Ayr and Bowen.
In the seven days to 9am yesterday, 1012mm of rain fell at Townsville airport, eclipsing the previous weekly rainfall record of 886mm, set in 1998 during what locals dubbed the “Night of Noah”.
During the peak of the tide at 9am yesterday in the suburb of Railway Estate, water crept up to its highest point in the past week, inundating low-lying homes and swamping streets.
Flood warnings were issued for rivers from Daintree in the north to Mackay in the south and extending west to Mount Isa.
In Ingham, 110km north of Townsville, more than 500mm of rain fell in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday, while the inland town of Cloncurry, near Mount Isa, received more than 100mm.
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said the city was facing “uncharted territory”. “We have seen a couple of hundred homes inundated, and about 10,000 residents without power,” she said.
“We are taking the best advice possible in terms of the management of the dam spillway to ensure we reduce the risk to the bulk of our community.”
Queensland Police Acting Chief Superintendent Steve Munro said Townsville was about halfway through the shocking weather that had swamped the city since last Tuesday. “Don’t go to a false sense of security saying we’re out of the woods, we’ve still got a long way to go,” he said.
“Particularly people in low-lying areas, you need to continue to be prepared for what we think is coming, which is more rain, which means more water in the streets.
“You need to start taking steps to keep yourself safe, prepare for what we do know is coming.”
Frank Pery had 12 people, including family and neighbours, staying in his two-bedroom home over the weekend, using his backyard shed as a makeshift camp kitchen and rest area. “We’re trying to keep everything as dry as we can,” he told The Australian.
Mr Pery, 68, who was born in the home, said the water level was the highest he had seen, even eclipsing the “Night of Noah” in 1998 and Cyclone Yasi in 2011.
“This is definitely the highest we’ve seen,” he said, joking that he would use the three boats in his backyard as “arks” if the water rose too high. After Yasi I raised the floor of the shed by six inches. Thank God I did, because otherwise we’d be ankle deep in water at the moment.”
Among Mr Pery’s guests seeking shelter were his daughter Leanne Collins and her family, who evacuated their home in the suburb of Idalia on Saturday after police advised them to leave.
“It’s not the Taj Mahal, but it’ll do,” she said of the shed.
“We’ve got food and power and about two sets of clothes each.”
Ms Collins said she did not previously believe her home of seven years, which was yesterday in waist-deep water, was prone to flooding. She was unable to shift furniture out of the way, having only enough time to pack a change of clothes. “We can’t lift freezers and fridges,” she said. “We never thought we’d have water through our house.”
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