Updated
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Owen has dumped "incredible" and "very intense" rain over parts of Queensland's north tropical coast, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says.
Key points:
- Tropical Cyclone Owen was downgraded to a tropical low Saturday afternoon
- The system has dumped more than half a metre of rain in north Queensland
- South-east Queensland can expect rain on Sunday, but it's not related to the tropical low
Since being downgraded to a low yesterday afternoon the system has tracked south-east and brought torrential rain and thunderstorms to several towns.
The heaviest totals overnight were at Halifax east of Ingham, which recorded 669 millimetres in the 24 hours since 9:00am yesterday.
Just to the north of Townsville, Paradise Lagoon also received 212mm.
Nearby towns of Lucinda and Ingham recorded 390mm and about 300mm respectively over the same period, along with wind gusts of 100 kilometres per hour.
BOM senior forecaster Michelle Berry described the rainfall as "exceptional".
"Some of these totals are just incredible … it was very intense, very very heavy and it is quite rare," she said.
Ms Berry said the system was expected to continue heading south-east, and could potentially bring more heavy rain to areas between central Queensland through to northern Wide Bay by tonight.
"That system will move further south-eastward, mainly parallel to the coast today … a bit of uncertainty as to how far south it will actually move, that's why we've got the warning," she said.
"As that moves further southwards it will combine with an upper level trough, moving over the state to actually extend the possibility of heavy rain through Central Queensland as well, particularly about the Central Coast, but also into the central interior into the Capricornia and even potentially the northern Wide Bay tonight."
Inland areas including Moranbah and east of Emerald, towards Rockhampton, could also see heavy falls.
The Hichinbrook Shire Mayor Ramon Jayo said council staff and the Local Disaster Management Group would head out to assess any damage.
"We're pretty lucky that there wasn't significant amounts of rainfall in the upper catchment of the Herbert or even in our upper Herbert area here … so most of the rain, the heavy rain, was concentrated in the lower Herbert area so we're pretty grateful for that," he said.
Despite the heavy downpours the State Emergency Services regional manager John Forde said there had been no swift water rescues.
"At this stage we haven't had to utilise any of the major resources as most of the residents have been following through all the directions that have been put out by emergency services," he said.
Halifax resident Erin Cross said it had been a restless night.
"It just hasn't stopped … My husband and I went to sleep at 3 o'clock this morning, pretty scary," she said.
Flooding has closed a number of roads north of Ingham and motorists are being told to avoid travelling on the Bruce Highway between Cairns and Townsville.
Lucinda Ross from RACQ said 15 roads were currently shut and more closures were expected throughout the day.
"As this rain sets in, we do expect to see more roads go under water and that is why we are urging drivers to avoid any unnecessary travel," she said.
Rain for south-east too, but not from Owen
Meanwhile further south, heavy rain is also predicted between the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast but it is not due to the ex-tropical cyclone.
"The south-east doesn't miss out all together … we actually have quite a deep north easterly wind flow today and that again will combine with the upper trough and we could even see some heavy falls through the south-east of the state today particularly with slow moving thunderstorms," Ms Berry said.
Tropical Cyclone Owen was downgraded to a tropical low at 4:00pm on Saturday, after making landfall south of Kowanyama with wind gusts of up to 170 kph.
The far north communities were spared from the wrath of Cyclone Owen, with residents preparing for a battering from a category four cyclone.
Topics: cyclone, storm-event, cairns-4870, townsville-4810, brisbane-4000, qld
First posted