Drenched: furthest town from sea flooded by record rain
Record rainfall has cut roads and isolated communities, ensuring Australia’s furthest town from the sea is surrounded by water with no relief in sight.
Australia’s furthest town from the sea is surrounded by water after record rainfall cut roads and isolated communities in a sodden state.
The 98-strong community of Eromanga in Queensland’s southwest has been inundated after heavy rain lashed inland and coastal regions, triggering widespread flooding warnings.
Situated near the Queensland-South Australia border, opal mining town Eromanga is usually bone dry in keeping with its unique claim to fame.
However, it has suddenly been hit by flooding along with other outback towns Adavale and Quilpie following record falls.
The Channel Country region reportedly recorded its wettest March day in 15 years on Tuesday after 130mm fell, with no relief in sight for a flood-hit Queensland.
Up to 100mm was recorded across Channel Country, Maranoa and Warrego as well as central and northwest regions.
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The central west has been one of the hardest hit with 208mm recorded at Bogewong and 169mm at Stonehenge.
“These numbers are exceptionally high for this area which is normally very dry,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines said.
More rainfall has been forecast for central and southwest Queensland, with a severe weather warning from Julia Creek down to Charleville – an area spanning almost 1000km.
The warning zone includes Longreach, Winton, Barcaldine and Quilpie, with up to 120mm of rain possible on Wednesday.
Heavy falls have also struck coastal areas, including a region still recovering from devastating flooding.
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North Queensland copped some of the worst of the wet weather with 145mm at Rollingstone, 142mm at The Pinnacles and 115mm in Townsville.
The region had already been hit hard by February floods triggered by record rainfall that claimed two lives, forced hundreds to evacuate and cut power for days.
“Rain will continue for most of the state today,” Hines warned.
“Some of these areas have been wet since at least the weekend meaning the rain that’s falling at the moment is falling on a saturated landscape.”
Major flood warnings have been triggered across central and western Queensland.
“Most significant rivers through the centre and west of the state are experiencing or expecting some flooding today or in the coming week,” Hines said.
In the coming days the rain is set to shift south, with a “very wet day” forecast from coastal areas from central Queensland’s Yeppoon to southern NSW’s Bega, including Brisbane and Sydney, on Saturday.
In early March, southeast Queensland and northern NSW bore the brunt of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred that left more than 200,000 people without power.
The cyclone was the first in more than 50 years to impact Queensland’s southeast.
