Weather News

Remnants of Tropical Cyclone Kelvin soak Eucla

Ben Domensino, Thursday February 22, 2018 - 13:24 AEDT

Western Australia's easternmost settlement just had its wettest day in half a century.

Eucla is nestled near the top of the Great Australian Bight and is the largest settlement on Australia's desolate Nullarbor Plain, boasting a population of 53 people in the 2016 census.

Eucla was originally set up as a telegraph station in 1877 before the townsite was gazetted in 1885. After decades of weathering and drifting sand, Eucla now consists of a few more buildings, including houses, a motel, petrol station and a caravan park.

It also features a hole on the world's longest golf course, and it has a weather station.

The expanse of land between Eucla and the tropical Indian Ocean means that it's a fairly dry place, with an annual average rainfall total of 274mm.

Only 112.5mm of rain was recorded at Eucla during 1905, which was its driest year in records dating back to 1876.

In such a dry settlement, the last 24 hours have been a rare sight.

Eucla collected 79mm of rain during the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday as the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Kelvin crossed the Nullarbor. This is close to a third of their entire annual average and the highest daily rainfall total in 58 years.

Falls of 20-50mm were also recorded at other rain gauges around the Eucla region during the last 24 hours, although most of this fell overnight.

Roads in the area are likely to be affected by the recent heavy falls and some locations may be cut off. Visit http://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings.jsp for the latest flood warnings.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2018

Enter a postcode or town name for local weather, or text to search the site. » advanced search

Weather News

» all stories

A very wet weekend for southeast Qld, northeast NSW

11:48 AEST A prolonged rainfall event is set to bring large totals to parts of NSW and Qld from Saturday, with possible heavy falls and flooding. A low-pressure system in the Coral Sea, a deepening coastal trough and persistent easterlies will bring moisture-laden air into southeast Qld and northeast NSW will bring days of rainfall to the region. While there is not a drop of rain on the radar over southeast Qld and Northeast NSW on Friday morning, the mass of cloud associated with a low in the Coral Sea will enhance rainfall over the weekend.