Ex-tropical cyclone Imogen is continuing to dump heavy rainfall on Queensland's north, with more expected over the next couple of days as the system hovers over the region.
Key points:
- The tropical low is predicted to track close to the Gulf coastline today
- Widespread flooding is likely to be minor to moderate
- The system will start tracking south towards Queensland's central coast from Thursday
Communities from Port Douglas to Ayr are on flood watch, with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) predicting potential isolated daily rainfall totals of more than 350 millimetres in some parts.
Forecaster Peter Markworth said the region would see falls today between 150mm and 200mm.
"The severe weather warning has been in place for a few days now. It's just south of Cairns over towards Georgetown, around past Gregory Springs, Charters Towers, then it crosses back towards the east coast just south of Ayr," he said.
"That’s where we're expecting the bulk of our rainfall.
"We can see up to a couple of hundred millimetres in quite a short amount of time … and we could see up to 300mm along the coast."
In the last 24 hours, Sweers Island copped 223mm of rain, while 262mm fell at Normanton airport, and Ayr received more than 100mm.
By late yesterday, the system had dumped more than 200mm at Copperlode Dam, west of Cairns, and a number of other locations along the coastline.
Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo said the district received between 100mm and 150mm of rain overnight.
"It's still raining pretty heavily at present time, so we're expecting a fair bit of water to eventuate into the rivers," he said.
Mr Jayo said it was important for locals to keep an eye on BOM warnings and to drive carefully.
"Periods of heavy rain and intense rain is expected and we've been saying for a few days now because of the extent of the rain we've had previously, all the table drains and all that are pretty saturated, so any heavy rains will result in potential for surface water on roads so drive carefully and drive to expect water at any corner," he said.
Hundreds of residents in remote storm-hit areas were yesterday set to spend a second night without power as flooding hampered access by Ergon crews, but the company said it planned to bring in additional equipment and reinforcement crews to tackle repairs.
The first tropical cyclone of the season, Imogen, formed off the Gulf of Carpentaria late on Sunday afternoon, crossing land just north of Karumba about 9:00pm.
But the stint was short-lived and the system was downgraded to a tropical low at 11:00am on Monday.
BOM forecaster Pieter Claassen said that was the nature of Gulf cyclones.
He said there was a "very low chance" it would reform because it was expected to stay over land.
The tropical low is predicted to track close to the coastline today, before weakening slightly and veering back towards the west.
BOM hydrologist Sue Oates said widespread flooding was likely to be minor to moderate.
"Generally causing widespread inconvenience to communities in Far North Queensland, with typically roads cut and properties becoming isolated through that region," she said.
"Should we see major flooding — we could see some properties inundated — but it'll probably be more isolated locations."
It is expected the system will start tracking south towards Queensland's central coast from Thursday into the weekend, as another trough moves up from the south.
"There's still a bit of uncertainty over the exact focus … [but] it's likely to stay wet, very wet, over the north tropical coast and Burdekin coast for the next two days at least," Mr Claassen said.
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2021-01-04 19:55:00Z
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