291.0
Hilltop Kuranda Qld
269.0 Mt Sophia Gordonvale Qld
217.8 Mareeba AP Qld
215.0 Topaz Malanda Qld
Other heavy north Qld falls:
209.4 Wrotham Park
202.0 Herberton
201.0 Tinaroo Falls Dam
179.0 Tully
152.6 Cairns City
Some heavy 3-day falls in Qld to 9am
511.0 Hilltop Kuranda
453.0 Topaz Malanda
420.0 Mt Sophia Gordonvale
403.2 Cairns City
350.0 Gordonvale PO
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Daybreak
today revealed the damage caused when tropical cyclone Steve swept through
Cairns last night. Trees and powerlines are down, with around 40,000
homes without power in the city and many roads blocked. Damage to houses
and businesses was extensive but generally not major, though several buildings
were unroofed and city streets littered with debris. Schools were closed
for the day, and the airport and port of Cairns closed until the afternoon.
Local flooding also caused problems, though rainfall around Cairns was not
as great as expected.
More serious problems were caused by Steve
as it crossed the Atherton Tablelands to the west of Cairns. Between
200 and 300mm fell in the area late yesterday and overnight in an area
that had already received 200 to 300mm in the previous 2 days, causing
the Barron River at Mareeba, the Tablelands main town, to
peak at a record 12.4m this morning. The town was isolated for most of
the day, and without water until late afternoon when the town's water
supply pumps failed. A caravan park and 14 houses were evacuated in the
town. Roads leading to the Atherton Tablelands were impassable all day,
with the main Gillies Highway, which connects the Tablelands with the
coast, expected to be closed for a week due to extensive washaways. South
of Cairns, the main Bruce Highway was closed at Gordonvale by the
Mulgrave River, while a youth was drowned in a flooded creek near Tully.
Moist northerly air converging into a slow-moving
troughline appears to have been responsible for unusually heavy rain in
Esperance WA this morning. 70mm fell in the town between midnight
and 9am, flooding low-lying areas and up to a dozen houses. An area of
The Esplanade had to be closed when drainage failed to cope with the downpour.
Widespread blackouts resulted from a high voltage powerline fault. No
thunder was reported by the Esperance observer.
Flooding continues to cause problems in
other parts of WA, Qld, NSW, SA and NT. In WA's Pilbara, a group
of 26 tourists and police had to be airlifted to safety after heavy rain
turned creeks south of Karratha into raging torrents over the weekend.
In the Qld/NT border country, the Georgina River is still
causing traffic disabilities, with people stranded at Avon Downs
by metre-deep water over the bridge. In the Territory, the Tanami,
Docker River and Sandover Highways are still impassable, but are expected
to be opened tomorrow. The repair bill for NT highways has been put at
$4m. In far north SA, the Stuart Highway was reopened today, but
most other roads remain impassable, and are likely to remain so for another
week or more. Airdrops of food and supplies continue, with Uluru (Ayers
Rock) still isolated and linked to the outside world only by helicopter.
In NW NSW, about 30 properties are receiving food drops, and are
likely to be isolated for another 6 to 8 weeks. However, water is expected
to cover large areas for up to 6 months, promoting fears of fly-strike
among bogged sheep. An estimated 12,000 sheep have been drowned in the
NSW floods.
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as
new and corrected information becomes available, with updates underlined