Weather News

Eastern soaking kicks off in Queensland

Ben Domensino, Thursday May 18, 2017 - 10:56 AEST

Parts of eastern Queensland have seen more than a month's worth of rain in the last 12 hours, with plenty more on the way today.

A trough of low pressure being fed by moisture from the Coral Sea has produced falls in excess of 100mm along Queensland's central coast since yesterday afternoon.

The heaviest rain so far has fallen in the Proserpine region, where Cyclone Debbie made landfall back in late March.

A rain gauge at Preston Alert has received 114mm during up to 9am today, while Hamilton Island's 88mm is the heaviest since Debbie.

Townsville, which missed out on most of the rain during Cyclone Debbie, picked up 40mm to 9am today. This is more than a month's worth of rain at this time of year and their heaviest in more than three months.

Another 50 to 100mm will be added to what's already fallen in parts of central and northeast Queensland during the next 24 hours. Some areas could amass up to 300-400mm by the end of this event.

The overnight soaking in central and northeast Queensland is part of a widespread rain event that will stretch down through the Murray Darling Basin and into northern Tasmania during the next three days.

Rain and storms will spread further south through Queensland today and on Friday as another trough crosses the state from the west. Rain will clear on the weekend as the trough moves offshore.

Rain and storms will spread across New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT between today and Saturday. Widespread totals of 30-60mm are likely through the Murray Darling Basin and also along parts of the NSW coast, most likely south of about Sydney.

The rain band will finally cross Tasmania on Saturday, where falls should be heavy enough in the north and northeast to bring a risk of flooding.

Flood Watches were in place this morning for a number of river catchments across Queensland's central coast and adjacent inland and the state's southwest. Minor river flooding and flash flooding are a risk in these areas during this event.

Flood watches and weather warnings are likely to be issued in other parts of the country during the coming days as conditions deteriorate.

The latest warnings are available at: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings.jsp

- Weatherzone

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