A month's rain in three days brings flooding in Qld
Ben Domensino,
Tuesday January 10, 2017 - 11:55 AEDT
Three days of torrential rain has left rivers overflowing in parts of northern Queensland this morning.
A near-stationary low pressure system located near the coast has been causing heavy rain over the state's North Tropical Coast since the weekend.
The heaviest falls during the 24 hours to 9am today occurred around Innisfail, where 150-250mm inundated already saturated catchments.
A rain gauge at Marco Street, near Pin Gin Hill to the southwest of Innisfail, has received 806mm during the last 72 hours. This is the site's heaviest three-day total in at least 16 years and about three quarters of the rain Brisbane typically receives in a year.
Innisfail has recorded 686mm during the last 72 hours, making it their wettest three days in at least 31 years.
South Johnstone collected more than a month's worth of rain in the last three days (671mm) and is already having the wettest January in four years, with 825mm in the gauge so far this month.
Successive bouts of heavy rain have been falling into already saturated catchments this week, which has put a number of rivers into flooding.
A moderate flood warning was re-issued for the Tully River this morning and minor flood warnings were in effect for the Johnstone, Herbert and Russell Rivers.
The low is expected to cause further rain along the sodden North Tropical Coast during the next 48 hours, with locally heavy falls likely. The system should weaken towards the end of the week, allowing lighter showers to return by Friday.
The latest flood warnings are available at: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings.jsp
- Weatherzone
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2017