‘Huge’ amount of rain to hit already-soaked region
A very wet weekend is forecast for large parts of the nation’s north as it is battered by downpours from two tropical lows.
Two tropical lows are bringing a “huge” amount of rain to northern Australia with a wet weekend to come.
A cyclone threat remains for north Queensland from the weather systems lying off Cairns and the Gulf of Carpentaria which have brought torrential rain in recent days.
Remarkably, another two tropical lows are lying off Western Australia’s north coast, one with the potential to form a cyclone by Sunday.
The Bureau of Meteorology‘s Miriam Bradbury warned it will be a very wet end to the week for the north tropical coast stretching up to Cape York and over to the Gulf country.
The area between Mackay and Cairns is expected to be hit on Friday by severe thunderstorms with locally heavy falls.
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“These areas have already seen a huge amount of rain so far this week, and additional rainfall is likely to lead to further flash flooding, inundation of roads, leading to lengthy detours, as well as damage to some property and vegetation,” Bradbury said on Friday.
Rain is expected to ramp up between Cairns and Bowen from Friday night with the risk of life-threatening flash flooding and damaging winds.
“This risk will continue into the weekend with high rainfall amounts of several 100mm, likely on a daily basis,” Bradbury said.
It follows up to 150mm of rain falling around Bowen, Mackay and the Daintree coast in the 24 hours to Friday morning, with some areas recording even heavier downpours.
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“It was certainly a wet 24 hours, but not quite as wet as what we saw earlier in the week,” Ms Bradbury said.
Upper Finch Hatton – inland from Mackay – received 181mm while Diwan on the Daintree coast received 179mm in the last 24 hours.
Over the last week, up to 939mm of rain was recorded at Mount Sophia and 905mm at Clyde Road, both near Cairns, with more than 600mm falling at other locations.
Flood watches have been activated for rivers from Cairns to Townsville.
The tropical low off the coast of Cairns is not expected to move much on Friday or the weekend and is a low chance of becoming a cyclone.
The second system over the Gulf is forecast to move southwest in the early part of next week with a low chance of becoming a cyclone from Saturday.
“We need to remember that even without tropical cyclone intensity, any low-pressure systems in the tropics are likely to lead to widespread heavy rain, an increased flood risk, strong and gusty winds and an elevated sea state,” Bradbury said.
Only one of the two systems off WA’s northwest coast is forecast to intensify by the weekend, but it is not expected to directly affect coastal or island communities, the bureau said.
