Heavy Rain Eases, Flooding Persists in Qld

but flooding will persist for the days to come.

First, let's have a look at the latest severe weather warnings

and we have now cancelled that warning across north-western parts of Queensland,

with widespread heavy rain now easing back to showers and thunderstorms.

But some of those thunderstorms could deliver

heavy rain, which may prolong or worsen existing flooding through there.

The focus, though, is across the north- east coast.

We still have that severe weather warning for heavy rain.

As you can see, it

extends all the way from Rollingstone down through Townsville and past Ayr.

For the rest of Thursday,

we could see six hourly rainfall totals of between 50 to 100mm.

That will increase to 150mm on Thursday night and into Friday morning, and

some isolated areas could see six hourly rainfall totals even higher than that.

And that could produce

flash flooding as well as very rapid river and creek rises.

So what did we see overnight?

Well, in the 24 hours to Thursday 9am, the focus of heavy rain

was around the Townsville area and some of those outer suburbs,

we did see between 150 to 270mm,

including for southern portions of the Cassowary Coast.

Further west,

those rainfall totals

are gradually starting to decline, but we did see still up to 100mm at Prospect

and between 30 to 60mm all the way as far inland for places like Julia Creek.

But these rainfall totals do add to the very wet week we've had right

across northern Queensland.

So having a look at the seven day rainfall totals all the way from Christmas Day

up into New Year's Day,

we have seen a number of locations across the wet tropics exceed one

metre of rainfall and many other locations breaching half a metre.

Out through north-west Queensland

also very high rainfall totals, between 400 to in excess of 500mm.

For some of these locations, that represents

half to even a full year of annual average rainfall.

So, not surprisingly, we do still have a number of flood watches and warnings

current. Flood watches still extend all the way from the coast

into western Queensland,

and even into eastern parts of the Northern Territory

as a heads up for potential future flooding.

But there are a number of catchments worth pointing out

where we do have flood warnings.

First, across the Flinders River we have a major flood warning.

We're seeing moderate flooding at Richmond and that could reach major

flooding on Thursday evening.

Major flooding is already

occurring further downstream towards the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Across the Norman River,

we also have a moderate flood warning.

We are already seeing moderate flooding at Normanton. And across the east coast,

we've upgraded that flood warning for the Bohle River to now potentially

moderate flooding and flooding also for the nearby Stuart Creek, and a minor

warning continues for the Herbert River further north

and these maps are still being updated, so do make sure you have

the latest information no matter where you are

this holiday period and even after the rain does ease,

we are expecting flooding to continue for quite some time in some areas.

So let's have a day by day

look at what we're expecting over the next couple of days.

Starting off with Thursday,

we still have that low and trough sitting across northern Queensland

that's drawing in a lot of tropical moisture from the north,

so widespread showers and thunderstorms are expected through the rest of Thursday,

potentially getting quite heavy across the Townsville coast

within that severe weather warning area. On Friday,

very little changes.

We have very unsettled conditions right across northern Queensland.

We could even see some storms popping up across the south-east and central parts,

but really the focus does remain

all the way from the Gulf and out towards the Townsville coast. Over the weekend,

we see those features remaining, widespread showers and thunderstorms

even approaching the Mackay coast and getting down into the southern interior.

And then on Sunday, we do see that trough stick around,

and we do see the potential for some heavy falls

all the way down towards the Mackay coast, and also some severe thunderstorms

across inland areas.

So do keep an eye on this forecast as you head into the weekend.

But in terms of total four day rainfall, we can see in the

in the period up to Sunday night,

the heaviest

falls will be roughly between Townsville and down towards the Whitsundays.

We could see between 100 to in excess of 200mm by Sunday night,

and we can see a couple of bullseyes further inland.

That does tell us that we could still see severe thunderstorms,

but that will really depend on where they do

form as to where we do see those highest rainfall totals.

So although widespread heavy rain is now starting to ease,

we're still seeing flooding across broad areas of northern Queensland.

Do continue to stay up to date with the latest information on our website

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And as always, please stay safe.