‘Here we go again’: More flooding for weary residents
Flood-weary North Queensland faces another flood warning as another bout of intense rainfall threatens towns just weeks after a natural disaster.
Residents at Halifax, north of Townsville, were warned of major flooding from the Herbert River on Thursday morning.
It followed an absolute drenching on Wednesday, with as much as 220 millimetres falling in just three hours.
“Further moderate to heavy rainfall is forecast for the remainder of Thursday, which may cause further river level rises across the Herbert River catchment,” BOM warned on Thursday morning.
There was also a severe thunderstorm warning for heavy rainfall in parts of the Herbert and Lower Burdekin districts.
The flood warning comes as heavy rain pounded Townsville on Wednesday.
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The military and tourism city was bracing itself for another recovery effort after being battered by triple-digit rainfall figures.
Last month, wild weather left homes inundated, roads destroyed and 30,000 properties without power in Townsville.
“We are exhausted… it is that sense of ‘Oh gosh, here we go again’ and it is emotionally draining,” Townsville acting mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said.
Roads were inundated with knee-deep water on Wednesday morning after an unexpected downpour, with 297 millimetres falling at Picnic Bay, 284 millimetres at Bluewater and 242 millimetres at Townsville.
“We were expecting rain but we probably weren’t expecting such a heavy deluge this morning,” Greaney said.
Footage has been released of a 76-year-old man being helped by police out of rising floodwaters in Townsville after he fell, causing a small cut to his knee.
He was taken to his home with the wound bandaged before paramedics arrived.
Flash flooding on roads has eased since then. But many roads remain closed because of damage with landslips at Paluma and Giru.
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“We saw closures of roads that we hadn’t seen before,” Greaney said.
Residents have been urged to conserve water at their homes to ease pressure on the garrison city’s sewage system which is at capacity.
There have been no reports of homes being flooded but the council has been told some property has been impacted by sewage.
Residents in Bluewater, north of Townsville, which was inundated by flooding in February, are preparing again for the swollen creek to rise with sandbags deployed to the town.
Nearby, an emergency alert was issued for Charters Towers to prepare for water conservation after the weir rose from the rainfall.
The Bruce Highway between Cardwell and Ingham is closed because of floodwaters.
The Ingham community is still reeling from the February disaster after two people died in the floods and power was cut for days.
There were flood warnings for the Herbert, Bohle and Ross Rivers on Thursday.
Heavy rainfall is expected to continue across the Herbert and Lower Burdekin on Thursday. It will clear on Friday, leaving persistent showers into the weekend.
In Queensland’s south-east, the recovery from ex-tropical cyclone Alfred continues as residents clean up damaged properties.
Primer Minister Anthony Albanese said $80 million of disaster relief payments had been accessed across Queensland’s south-east and northern NSW.
He said claims were being processed within 24 hours and Service Australia workers had taken 6000 calls a day since Alfred hit the two states.
– with AAP
