Days of heavy rainfall has led to major
to record breaking flooding through parts of north-west Queensland.
And we can see why here,
looking at the rainfall totals in the seven days till yesterday
with widespread areas of 200 to 400 millimeters.
But even heavier falls shown here in these lighter
pink areas have in excess of 400 millimeters.
And that does include the areas of Century Mine and Riversleigh,
where we've seen falls in excess of 500 millimeters in just the last few days.
And all this rainfall is leading to major flooding.
So taking a look at these flood warnings in more detail, we can see these
green and yellow areas are showing areas of minor to moderate flooding.
But in most concern, these red areas, which you can see the Flinders River
and also the Nicholson and Gregory Rivers.
Now if we have a little closer look in this area,
we can really see that includes the area around Lorne Hill and also
further upstream around the Burketown area where we're experiencing
or expecting to experience record flooding in the coming days.
Looking at the rainfall in more detail, we're seeing widespread 150
to 250 millimeters in parts of north west Queensland.
And we can see that here in some of the rainfall observations.
Of particular note are Riversleigh and Century Mine that have had in excess
of 200 millimeters in the 24 hours to 9:00 this morning.
But in the last 48 hours,
both of these locations have had around 500 millimeters,
and that is leading to major to record flooding.
So looking at some of our river gauges in this area, we can say
many of them are experiencing major flooding right now.
And looking at that in more detail, firstly, at Riversleigh, you can see here
on the Gregory River, we are well and truly above the major flood stage.
Major flooding here is normally around six and a half meters, but we're currently
sitting around the 18 meter mark that's 12 meters above the major flood peak.
Another river we're looking at is also or further downstream,
I should say, is the Gregory River at Gregory Downs, where
we're seeing, again, major flooding well and truly above the major flood level.
And another river we're looking at is the Leichhardt River at Floraville,
where we're continuing to see river levels rise there.
And we've just breached the major flood level
and we're likely to see that further increase in the coming days.
Now, taking a look at the water vapor imagery, you can see here what the big low
pressure system spinning through here,
the tropical low that has been driving this heavy rainfall for days
has been bringing us really heavy falls to north western parts of Queensland.
But overnight and earlier today, we're starting to see some of that moisture
stream down through central and south eastern parts of Queensland
and that's going to be the focus of the rainfall as we move into the coming days.
And looking at that in more detail, we can see right now with the focus
of that heavy rainfall has now moved
to the central parts of Queensland around the Winton and Longreach area.
But we're still seeing showers and thunderstorms
continue over our already flood affected areas of north-west Queensland.
Now as we move into tonight, into tomorrow,
we'll see that rainfall continuing to move towards the south-east
with moderate falls starting to develop through south eastern parts of Queensland.
But rain and storms still continuing through central and isolated
falls through north western parts of Queensland.
And as we move into the weekend, we'll see that rain and thunderstorm activity
continue through parts of south-east Queensland and central Queensland,
but thankfully ease through north- western parts of Queensland
where we've already seen this major flooding.
And thankfully the rainfall totals across south eastern parts of the country aren't
expected to be as heavy as what we've seen here in north western Queensland.
And after a dry few months and particularly summer
through these areas, for some this rainfall will be quite welcome.
But over the next four days, we're likely to see widespread falls
and 50 to 100 millimeters through much of central and south-
eastern parts of the country
with isolated falls in excess of that possible, particularly with thunderstorms,
particularly the central and south-eastern parts of the country over the weekend.
So if you know someone that live in these areas, make sure you stay up to date
with the latest forecasts and warnings via our website, app and social media
and listen to all advice from emergency services.