Record rainfall inundates city with up to 500 homes under water
Record breaking floods, looting, emergency services being forced to retreat - now a new threat is emerging as this Aussie city faces disaster.
Once-in-a-century floods have turned streets into rivers and forced thousands to abandon their homes in northeast Australia, with authorities warning of tornadoes and more rain over the next few days.
Australia’s tropical north experiences heavy rains during the monsoon season at this time of the year, but the recent downpour has surged far above normal levels.
Thousands of residents in the city of Townsville in Queensland were without power and cut off by flooded roads.
Landslides were reported with more possible in the worst-hit areas, the Bureau of Meteorology said today, warning of further “intense rainfall” and “significant flash flooding” along the eastern shore.
The weather office earlier announced that spillway gates at the Ross River dam had been opened to their maximum setting with a rapid rise in the water level predicted to follow.
“Dangerous and high-velocity flows will occur in the Ross River Sunday night into Monday. Unprecedented areas of flooding will occur in Townsville,” a statement said, adding that there was a “risk to life and property”.
To download a high-resolution PDF of Townsville City Council's map of properties that could potentially be inundated by flooding, click here: https://t.co/DatfuWYyvX #bigwet #alert pic.twitter.com/xHeWElavwx
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 3, 2019
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk praised the work of emergency services earlier today but warned residents it wasn’t over yet.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” she told Today.
“In Queensland, of course, we’re used to seeing natural disasters, but Townsville has never seen the likes of this.
“Don’t go sightseeing, if you don’t need to be out on the roads, don’t be. We haven’t yet got to the peak … this monsoonal pressure will keep shifting, so we don’t know where it’s going to dump the water.”
Hundreds of people have already been rescued, with at least 500 homes inundated.
But trapped residents have made desperate pleas for assistance on social media.
“Please we are stuck… waiting for SES for hours. We have a 6-year-old and a large dog, neither can swim, anyone have a boat they can get to us please?” one worried resident wrote.
“Anyone out there with a boat please go to [address] my wife is going to drown with my 2-year-old child,” another desperate man wrote.
More severe weather could whip up tornadoes and destructive winds in the days ahead, Bureau of Meteorology state manager Bruce Gunn told reporters yesterday.
Up to 20,000 homes are also at risk of being inundated if the rains continue.
Military personnel were delivering tens of thousands of sandbags to affected locals, as Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned residents to be careful.
“It’s basically not just a one in 20-year event, it’s a one in 100-year event,” she told reporters Saturday.
The Bureau of Meteorology said a slow-moving monsoonal trough was sitting above Queensland, with some areas expected to receive more than a year’s worth of rain before conditions ease.
Bureau meteorologist Adam Blazak told AFP the heavy downpours could continue until Thursday, while floodwaters would take some time to recede even when the rains lessen.
The region receives an average of some 2,000 millimetres (6.5 feet) of rain annually but some towns were already on track to pass that.
The town of Ingham, north of Townsville, received 506mm of rain in 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday, of which 145mm fell in just one hour, Blazak said.
‘MANY ROADS ARE CUT’
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Townsville resident Chris Brookehouse told the ABC, adding that his house was flooded with water more than one metre deep.
“The volume of water is just incredible. Downstairs is gone, the fridge and freezer are floating. Another five or six steps and upstairs is gone too.”
Blazak said that with adverse weather predicted to continue for up to 72 hours, some regions could see record-breaking levels of rainfall.
There has been a silver lining to the deluge, with drought-stricken farmers in western Queensland welcoming the soaking.
“It is a welcome relief, especially in our western communities, to not only get the rain but also to fill up their dams,” Palaszczuk said Sunday.
“We’re getting food supplies in there. We still have many roads that are cut around those areas.”
The deluge comes amid a severe drought in the eastern inland of the vast Australian continent, including parts of Queensland state, that’s left graziers struggling to survive.
Extreme heatwaves during the southern hemisphere summer have also led to maximum-temperature records being broken in some towns.
High temperatures are not unusual in Australia during its arid southern hemisphere summer, with bushfires a common occurrence.
But climate change has pushed up land and sea temperatures and led to more extremely hot days and severe fire seasons.
In the southern states of Victoria and Tasmania, firefighters in recent days have been battling numerous bushfires threatening homes and communities.
FLOODGATES FORCED OPEN
Residents in sodden Townsville have been urged to seek higher ground as heavy downpours forced the floodgates to the city’s swollen Ross River Dam to be completely opened.
With up to 500 homes already under water, a heavy deluge of rain on Sunday pushed levels to almost 250 per cent capacity with authorities opening the floodgates, almost doubling the amount of water flowing out of the catchment.
Close to 2000 cubic metres of water was surging out of the dam every second after 9pm on Sunday, prompting warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology to residents in low lying areas.
“You can expect high velocity flows and unprecedented areas of flooding to occur in the Ross River Catchment,” BoM spokesman Bruce Gunn said in a video statement.
“It could change continuously and unpredictably over the course of this evening into (Monday) morning.”
The Ross River at Aplin Weir was at 3.11 metres and rising late on Sunday night, with authorities expecting it to reach four metres.
The extra water could flood more homes along the river with people in several suburbs including Rosslea, Hermit Park and Townsville City told to move to higher ground immediately.
The monsoon trough that’s been dumping vast amounts of rain on the state’s north for a week has rewritten Townsville’s record books.
In just seven days, the city copped a staggering 1012mm, eclipsing the previous record of 886mm set on the city’s so-called Night of Noah when vast swathes of the city went under back in 1998.
Parts of north and central Queensland could get another half a metre to a metre of rain over the next few days.
Authorities have pleaded with Townsville residents who are still in their homes to get ready.
“We don’t know when this event will end,” Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said. “We cannot give you any certainty about what we are going to need to do into the future.”
Townsville Airport announced it had cancelled all flights in and out of the facility just after 6pm due to safety concerns.
AIRPORT CLOSED, ALL FLIGHTS CANCELLED
— Townsville Airport (@TSVAirport) 3 February 2019
Townsville Airport will close, effective immediately. All flights in and out of the airport have been cancelled. Passengers are urged to contact their airlines for further details. The decision will be reassessed in the morning. Thank you.
With water levels at waist and chest height in some suburban streets, local police chief and District Disaster Coordinator Steve Munro said the crisis was only half over.
If things go the city’s way, the flood might not affect any or many more than the 400 to 500 properties already inundated.
But he warned: “It could move up to the 10,000, 20,000 (mark). That’s the worst case scenario we’re looking at if things keep going pear-shaped. We don’t want to get to that stage.”
The monsoon trough has brought driving rain to other parts of the state too, including drought-hit communities out west.
At Hughenden, properties are facing inundation and the forecast is for more major falls out there, as far as Mount Isa near the Northern Territory border. Back on the east coast, communities from Ingham to Mackay, 500km away, are at risk of flash flooding and damaging winds, including the possibility of tornadoes.
In Townsville, people are sharing dramatic stories of what they had to do to escape fast-rising flood waters.
Hermit Park resident Randall Parker used a blow-up air bed to float his family to safety after water rapidly swallowed his unit.
“It is just unbelievable … It just keeps bucketing down,” he told The Sunday Mail.
“I just had to get the family out including a newborn baby as quick as possible.”
As the floodwaters rise, crocodiles have been spotted in suburban areas.
Erin Hahn shared a photo of a freshwater crocodile spotted in front of her father Shaun’s house on O’Reilly St, Mundingburra.
“He saw a small freshwater croc and called my family out to look,” she said.
“The property is fine, water lapping at the footpath.
“The croc swam off back down the street.”
“I cannot stress it enough to stay out of the water,” she said.
There have been multiple reports of looting.
WARNINGS
Residents in many suburbs across Townsville are warned that they “will experience imminent flash flooding as a result of significant sudden rises” in the Ross River after authorities were forced to fully open the dam gates.
Residents in Rosslea, Hermit Park, Railway Estate, South Townsville, Oonoonba, Idalia, West End, Rowes Bay, Garbutt, Townsville City, Cluden, Hyde Park, Aitkenvale, Currajong, Pimlico, Mysterton, Mundingburra, Douglas, Annandale, Kirwan and Thuringowa are warned to get to higher ground.
#BREAKING Emergency Services are being pulled out of flooded areas because they don't know what's happening with this current flash flood. Please stay safe everyone. Listen to all warnings. This is getting very, very serious
— Clare Armstrong (@ByClare) February 3, 2019
On Sunday, emergency services were being pulled out of flooded areas in Townsville, with the Townsville Bulletin reporting Australian Defence Service and other services had been instructed to withdraw from low-lying areas.
A warning message from authorities also claimed “an unprecedented amount of water” was about to inundate the city caused by a band of heavy rain combined with spill from Ross River Dam.
Authorities have pleaded with Townsville residents who are still in their homes to get ready.
“We don’t know when this event will end,” Mayor Jenny Hill said. In the space of a few short hours on Sunday, another intense downpour pushed up water levels in the city’s swollen Ross River Dam up by almost 10 per cent, to 237 per cent of capacity.
While there are no concerns about the dam’s integrity, Ms Hill hinted at the possibility she may have to approve higher water releases — beyond the 1000 cubic metres per second that’s currently occurring.
That would flood more low-lying homes along the river, but might be needed for the greater good.
“We cannot give you any certainty about what we are going to need to do into the future.” With water levels at waist and chest height in some suburban streets, local police chief and District Disaster Coordinator Steve Munro said the crisis was only half over.
If things go the city’s way, the flood might not affect any or many more than the 400 to 500 properties already inundated.
But he warned: “It could move up to the 10,000, 20,000 (mark). That’s the worst case scenario we’re looking at if things keep going pear-shaped. We don’t want to get to that stage.” The monsoon trough has brought driving rain to other parts of the state too, including drought-hit communities out west.
At Hughenden, properties are facing inundation and the forecast is for more major falls out there, as far as Mount Isa near the Northern Territory border. Back on the east coast, communities from Ingham to Mackay, 500km away, are at risk of flash flooding and damaging winds, including the possibility of tornadoes.
In Townsville, people are sharing dramatic stories of what they had to do to escape fast-rising flood waters.
Hermit Park resident Randall Parker used a blow-up air bed to float his family to safety after water rapidly swallowed his unit.
“It is just unbelievable … It just keeps bucketing down,” he told The Sunday Mail.
“I just had to get the family out including a newborn baby as quick as possible.”
Meanwhile, a Major Flood Warning has been issued for the Haughton River after recent bursts of heavy rainfall resulted in catchment wide totals of 50-100mm in the last six hours to 4pm Sunday, with higher isolated totals up to 150mm recorded in the lower reaches of the catchment around Alligator and Whites Creeks.
AFFECTED AREAS:
Further heavy rainfall is likely over the next few days.
Major Creek: Major flooding will continue along Major Creek during Sunday.
Haughton River: Major flood levels are rising along the Haughton River between Mt Piccaninny and Giru during Sunday afternoon.
No recent observations are available at Giru along the Haughton River. The most recent reading was 3.05m at 11:00am on Sunday with major flooding continuing. River levels at Giru are expected to remain above the major flood level (2.50m) for the remainder of the weekend.
SUBURBS ON FLOOD ALERTS: Annandale, Black River, Bluewater, Burdell, Cluden, Condon, Currajong, Deeragun, Douglas, Garbutt, Hermit Park, Hyde Park, Idalia, Jensen, Kelso, Kirwan, Mundingburra, Mysterton, North Ward, Oonoonba, Railway Estate, Rasmussen, Rosslea, South Townsville and Townsville City.
Flood Safety Advice: Remember: If it’s flooded, forget it. For flood emergency assistance contact the SES on 132 500. For life threatening emergencies, call triple-0 (000) immediately.
Current emergency information is available at www.qld.gov.au/alerts
For the latest warning, rainfall and river information visit the Bureau of Meteorology’s website.
— AAP, Peter Michael, Clare Armstrong, Tess Ikonomou & Sophie Chirgwin, The Sunday Mail (Qld).
Originally published as Record rainfall inundates city with up to 500 homes under water
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