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Australian state is given several days’ warning of rain bomb involving ‘incredibly heavy’ downpours – here’s what the weather looks like for you this weekend
- Fears as parts of Queensland set to receive record rainfalls in coming days
- Rescue crews trying to save motorist on Friday, roads disappearing underwater
- Far north and western Queensland set to receive ‘incredibly heavy rainfall’
Queensland is bracing for yet another flood emergency amid predictions rainfall records will be smashed, with one person already needing to be rescued.
With parts of the state ‘saturated’ from last month’s flood disaster, an emergency crew was striving to a driver who became trapped in floodwaters on Cookes Road Bridge, near Conondale on the Sunshine Coast.
The crew was struggling to reach the driver with the bridge disappearing under rising floodwaters, the Courier Mail reported.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned ‘incredibly heavy’ rain is set to pound huge parts of the state and said her deputy was briefing mayors in several Queensland towns to discuss emergency plans.
The latest deluge will see rains begin to dump on Queensland on Saturday, building up to be at the their worst early next week
Vast areas of North Queensland could see their heaviest-ever rainfall for the month of May since records began, Ms Palaszczuk warned.
‘There’s going to be incredibly heavy rainfalls so we want people to think very carefully over the weekend… to think about their preparations,’ she said on Friday.
Huge parts of North Queensland are set to receive their highest-ever rainfalls for the month of May, forecasters say, with the dangerous deluge set to begin early next week
The latest rainfall emergency to hit the eastern seaboard will see rains begin to hammer Queensland on Saturday and be at the their worst early next week
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warned of ‘incredibly heavy’ rain over huge parts of the state and her deputy has contacted mayors of several towns to discuss emergency plans
The worst affected areas are expected to be far north and western Queensland, including Townsville and Ingham.
Townsville is expected to see up to 270mm of rain over the next five days, while inland gold mining town Charters Towers could see up to 200mm.
She warned the predicted rainfall was ‘very unusual… especially this time of year’ for the region and said Queensland’s Disaster Management Group would likely need to be deployed.
Other towns likely to be swamped include Longreach, Winton, Windora and Barcaldine, and also Rockhampton, Yeppon and Gladstone.
With rain set to worsen, the saturated state already saw one motorist rescued by emergency crews on Friday
Heavy rain will sweep across north Queensland on Saturday and worsen in the days to come
By Tuesday morning, vast areas of northern and western Queensland could see more devastating flooding
Farmers in the area were already being warned to move stock and machinery to higher ground in preparation for flooding.
Ms Palaszczuk said the weather won’t be ‘as intense’ in south-east Queensland, but the heavily-populated area will not escape the wet weather and will see heavy rain every day for the next week.
Brisbane and the Gold Coast will see the heaviest rain from Tuesday onwards, with up to 130mm predicted over the next five days.
Queensland is bracing for another flood emergency. Pictured: Farmland in Ballina flooded
Ms Palaszczuk said authorities would monitor conditions because so many streams and rivers were ‘saturated’ from the flooding disaster between February and April.
Barcaldine copped around 200mm of rain in April so could be at risk of flooding.
Marcelle Chandler from Home Creek told The Courier Mail stock losses in the area are now possible.
‘We might even get some stock losses because they can get bogged and it would be just too muddy for the sheep especially,’ he said.
Further south the weather will be drier, but cooler.
Night-time temperatures will plummet in Canberra close to zero over the weekend then hit freezing on Monday with the mercury hitting zero overnight at the start of the working week.
Melbourne is forecast to see overnight temperatures drop below 10 for three days in a row, while Sydney will also cop cool overnight temperatures this weekend.
Sydney can expect a sunny weekend.
Temperatures in Hobart will drop below 10 all week and the Tasmanian capital will see a wet Sunday.
Perth remains the warmest state capital, with temperatures in the mid to high 20s all weekend and into next week.
Source: DailyMail
