Townsville and surrounding areas have seen a year's rainfall total in just over a week.
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00:00A lingering monsoon trough continues to bring heavy rainfall and flooding to northern parts
00:05of Queensland.
00:06Over the weekend we saw rainfall totals between three to four hundred millimetres across multiple
00:12locations and there is more on its way.
00:16We have a Severe Weather Warning in place that extends all the way from Innisfail down
00:20towards Eyre, pushing inland into the Gulf Country and southern parts of the peninsula.
00:25This is for heavy to locally intense rainfall that may lead to life-threatening flash flooding.
00:31And with six hourly rainfall totals between 150 to 180 millimetres with the potential
00:37for 24 hour rainfall totals to be in excess of 250 millimetres even up to 300 millimetres.
00:46Now the heavy rainfall has eased across the Queensland coast but we are expecting it to
00:51re-intensify tonight and become more widespread into Tuesday.
00:55With the heaviest rainfall in the areas of locally intense most likely through that tropical
01:01north Queensland coast, the Herbert and Lower Burdekin but also the northern goldfields
01:07and the upper Flinders as well.
01:09And that's for it to develop later this evening continuing into Tuesday before significantly
01:14weakening on Wednesday.
01:16There are also high tides about the Gulf Coast and the Torres Straits that may lead
01:21to minor flooding and inundation of low-lying areas.
01:25So how much rainfall are we talking?
01:27This is the accumulated rainfall totals between now and Tuesday evening.
01:32You can see that the highest rainfall totals are of course within that area where the Severe
01:36Weather Warning is in place.
01:37But we have the potential for these purple areas in excess of 250 to 300 millimetres
01:44through that northern goldfields, upper Flinders and the north tropical Queensland coast.
01:50There are a number of flood watches in place that really just represent the story that
01:55the rainfall is expected to increase particularly through the Gulf Country or north-western
02:00parts of Queensland but also the peninsula as well.
02:04So these flood watches are showing where water may need to make its way down through the
02:09catchments.
02:11So there are also a number of flood warnings in place of course, moderate to major flooding
02:17right across areas of the north tropical Queensland coast including major flood warning about
02:22the Herbert, the Burdekin, the Cape and the Flinders with widespread moderate flooding
02:29through the area as well and including even as far west as the Western River.
02:34Now this is at the moment, however it is an evolving weather situation and grounds are
02:39very wet, river systems are swollen, they're going to respond very quickly to any rainfall
02:44that falls over the area and it's very likely that these warnings and watches will be updated
02:49in the coming days so it's important to stay up to date.
02:54So as well as the heavy rainfall there is the potential for severe thunderstorms as
02:58well.
02:59So this is for today, extending from Cairns all the way down to Townsville and pushing
03:03across into western parts of Queensland.
03:06So the yellow and the red area is where the severe thunderstorms are possible with the
03:11red areas where they are most likely and underneath those storms there may be heavy to locally
03:16intense rainfall that may result in flash flooding as well.
03:21So it is important if you live across parts of northern Queensland that you stay up to
03:25date with the latest warnings via the Bureau website, app and social media and as always
03:32listen to the advice from your local emergency services.
03:35Bye for now.