Outback Queensland drenching after ex-tropical cyc...

Updated March 04, 2020 21:03:07

The tail end of ex-tropical cyclone Esther has brought much-needed rain to outback Queensland overnight, and torrential downpours are again forecast for today.

Birdsville has received nearly 117 millimetres since midnight, Thargomindah got 83mm, 53mm fell at Urandangi and Boulia had at least 65 mm in the 24 hours before 9:00am, with some communities getting their best rain in 10 years.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said the rain would continue to fall on Thursday.

Ex-tropical cyclone Esther is currently located over the central eastern Northern Territory and is moving south-east towards the Northern Territory and Queensland border, tracking towards New South Wales.

The system is expected to interact with an upper trough currently moving over South Australia to bring widespread rainfall to Western Queensland's Channel Country, continuing into Thursday.

Forecaster Rosa Hoff said storms were being produced on the system's tail-end in the north, which were expected to provide patchy rain in Mount Isa.

"We are expecting to see some increased totals over the western portion of the Maranoa and Warrego district and we do currently have a number of flood warnings and watches active in that area from the west of St George through to the Northern Territory border," she said.

"It's not like the showers we've had recently that are here for a little while then gone in the next instance.

"It has been a good start, a bit of a soak for them."

The Bulloo Shire in the state's south-west corner received its best rain in 10 years.

With little before this system blew in, Mayor John 'Tractor' Ferguson was relieved to hear the rain start at 4:00pm on Tuesday.

"We've had about 80mm at Thargomindah," Mr Ferguson said.

"Beautiful steady rain, got a bit heavy and … it's about half a metre over the bridge now.

"People have been waiting for this for 10 years.

"It's not drought-breaking rain, but good relief rain."

Thargomindah courier Geoff Pike spent the morning on his roof cleaning out his gutters, which overflowed in the downpour.

He said the rain has had an impact on critical deliveries such as prescription drugs, hospital supplies and fruit and vegetables.

It has taken careful planning with the council and locals in remote areas to make deliveries through flooded waterways.

"If the rainfall does hit the level predicted, [the Wilson River] could be cut," he said.

"We would take supplies to the river, put it in a boat, go downstream about 20 kilometres and meet them on the other side with their food and provisions."

Boulia Shire Mayor Rick Britton recorded 48mm of rain on his property, but others in the area reported up to 70mm.

Wild storms lashed the district last night, but Mr Britton said no damage had been reported.

South of Boulia, the Diamantina Shire also enjoyed the rain but avoided the predicted winds.

Mayor Geoff Moreton, who lives north of Birdsville, got 28mm, but was keen on a bit more.

"This is brilliant rain, don't want to get me wrong," he said.

"Just that it's a bit below the predictions we were told and you get false hope sometimes."

Topics: rainfall, storm-event, disasters-and-accidents, emergency-planning, birdsville-4482, longreach-4730, mount-isa-4825, boulia-4829, qld, australia

First posted March 04, 2020 08:37:03