Warning: Wild weather set to batter Australia
Continued heavy rain and storms are set to batter the east coast across Queensland and parts of NSW today.
In recent days, Queensland has endured the wild weather and forecasters are warning that there is even more to come.
New South Wales will face heavy rainfall and strong winds in some parts of the state continued from yesterday’s weather.
Sky News Weather meteorologist Rob Sharpe said the low pressure system that had brought the rain to Townsville last week had moved west over the weekend.
Mr Sharpe said it was lingering in the north-west and would continue to bring more heavy downfalls.
“Townsville saw drought-breaking rain at the end of last week seeing their Ross River Dam rise from 15 per cent to 85 per cent in just a few days,” he said.
“The dam saw a rise of 163,000ML, which is equivalent to 65,000 Olympic swimming pools worth of water.”
“Julia Creek has seen 127mm in 24 hours to 9 am this morning and Winton saw 102mm — its heaviest rain since the year 2000,” he said.
Severe Weather Warning Update: Heavy rain has extended further north into the #GulfCountry this morning. Currently there is a swath of heavy rain extending from #JuliaCreek to #DonorsHills, with Julia Creek recording 108mm in 6 hours. Next update at 11am pic.twitter.com/DjFrag9dAP
— Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) March 4, 2018
Cloncurry and Mt Isa are both experiencing the wettest March in seven years. Cloncurry has already recorded 175mm and Mt Isa saw 94mm fall.
The downpour has caused severe flooding, with fears continued rain is only going to worsen the situation.
Localised flooding is disrupting some bus services as flooded roads cause delays.
“Over the weekend, Cloncurry had a major flood peak at 7.56m overnight Saturday into Sunday. It was the largest flood peak since 2009,” Mr Sharpe said.
Forecasters have warned that the wild weather isn’t in a hurry to move on.
“Heavy rain will continue in parts of western Queensland through the working week, before it moves into the Northern Territory by the weekend,” Mr Sharpe said.
“The rain event won’t be as heavy as it moves into the NT as it has been in Queensland.”
The Bureau of Meteorology also issued a warning for heavy rainfall in NSW, with the central part of the state expected to be hit the worst.
#Thunderstorm outlook for today. Severe thunderstorms containing very heavy rainfall, damaging wind gusts and large hail are possible this afternoon. Keep an eye out on any warnings today at https://t.co/Kx8aI4NQbc pic.twitter.com/jpptlBmphZ
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) March 4, 2018
Earlier this week, storms brought 49mm in just 30 minutes to Dungog in the Hunter Valley.
Mr Sharpe said NSW could expect heavy rain, damaging winds and possible hail.