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 Storms, deluges and floods in QLD and northern NSW
The past few days have seen major storm and rain events in QLD and northern NSW leading to minor to, in places, major flooding in central eastern QLD.
On Sunday afternoon and evening an active trough from the central NT through SW QLD to the NSW Mid North Coast pushed east bringing heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong wind gusts. Storms delivered around 165,000 lightning strikes over a 24 hour period according to Weatherzone*. Tamworth recorded 66mm in 7 hours to midnight EDT, but most of it fell in two huge downpours - 30mm in 40 minutes to 20.00 and then 21.4mm in 20 minutes to 23.30. The storms gave Mt George, 25km W of Taree, its heaviest January fall in 13 years of record - 88mm.
By Monday afternoon, the trough line had moved NE and a line of storms stretching 1,000km from central northern QLD to NE NSW produced torrential rain as it moved slowly over NE NSW and SE QLD, including the Brisbane area. Many locations recorded over 100mm in the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday morning, with an area from Brisbane south to the Gold Coast hinterland, the Border Ranges and around Murwillumbah NSW getting the highest falls. Lower Springbrook on 171.4mm was highest closely followed by 160.2 at Murwillumbah and 167.0 at nearby Uki. In Brisbane, the southern suburb of Calumvale recorded 102mm, while most suburbs had between 50 and 100mm.
The heavy rain, often falling over short periods, flooded many streets from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, and stopped trains between Roma Street and Bowen Hills. Energex reported 6,000 properties lost power as 53,000 lightning strikes were recorded while the SES reported most of the 90 callouts were due to flash flooding and water entering roofs. Lightning set fire to a church in Warwick but the flames were quickly extinguished. The Courier Mail and Gold Coast Bulletin carry more information, while ABC News covered the event and provided considerable social media input.
A low in the monsoon trough that has been hovering off the QLD Central Coast has given the area heavy rain of up to 200 to over 300mm of rain since Tuesday. In the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday, St Lawrence, 140km down the coast from Mackay, received 212.8mm while in the 24 hours to 9am today Mackay Airport recorded 233.2mm but Plane Creek Sugar Mill, in the town of Sarina 30km S of Mackay, measured an amazing 304mm in the gauge. A list of heavy falls is here. Funnel Creek, which lies between St Lawrence and Sarina, is in major flood, there are minor flood warnings for Isaac and Connors Rivers farther west, and a flood watch has been issued for the Don, Pioneer and Proserpine Rivers which are around and north of Mackay. A number of roads around Mackay are closed due to flooding, and further rain is expected before an easing at the weekend.
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