Floods of Fear: North West Queensland on Brink of Collapse as Torrential Rains Bring Widespread Devastation
- Entire towns cut off, roads and rail lines severed, and homes inundated as monsoonal rains wreak havoc across the state’s north and north west
- At least one life lost, dozens of roads closed, and hundreds of people stranded as emergency services struggle to cope with the disaster
- Cattle station owners and graziers count the cost of the disaster, with some reporting catastrophic losses and others still waiting to assess the damage
Pilots are taking to the skies in a desperate bid to save livestock and deliver vital supplies to stranded communities as the floodwaters continue to rise across north west Queensland.
Ringer Jessica Bridges, who runs a cattle station at Gilliat Plains, west of Julia Creek, said the past week had been a nightmare. “There’s a lot of anxiety and big emotions in a lot of people’s households,” she said. “What happened in 2019 was horrible, and to have to live through that more than once in your lifetime … there’s an essence of PTSD.”
As the rain eases in the north west, the full extent of the damage is only just beginning to emerge. Cloncurry Airport has been significantly damaged, and roads and rail lines remain cut off. The Bureau of Meteorology says the system on the coast should shift offshore early next week, but not before bringing more heavy falls and flash flooding to already saturated areas.
“We still have a lot of run-off, water moving in river systems at major flood level,” said Acting Superintendent of the Mount Isa District Paul Austin. “We also have quite a few people trapped in some of those smaller towns.”
At least one life has been lost in the floods, with a man in his 70s dying at Normanton. A father and daughter were rescued from rising floodwaters near Boulia, and seven people were plucked to safety after becoming stranded in floodwaters at Lannercost, near Ingham.
Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics treated three people after a house was hit by lightning on George Street in Ingham on Thursday night. They have since been discharged from hospital.
Weatherzone said about 30,000 lightning strikes hit the ground across north Queensland in storms overnight, with several locations in the north west breaking monthly December rainfall records.
Cloncurry mayor Greg Campbell said the town’s airport had been “catastrophically damaged” by the intense rain, and only helicopters can currently land at the airport. “It is so frustrating to the point of making me angry, we could’ve had this fixed by now,” he said.
State Disaster Coordinator Chris Stream said he was working closely with the federal government to provide support to affected areas, including for fodder drops. “Landholders, graziers are telling us they don’t have an accurate indication of the loss of stock but certainly in some areas it is worse than 2019,” he said.
Grazier Paul Hacon said initial checks of his property, 90 kilometres north of Cloncurry, were promising, but he knew others who would not be as fortunate. “We’re very lucky — had a fly around yesterday twice and very minimal losses,” he said. “But the more you go east, the worse it gets.”
In the Gulf of Carpentaria, Ashley Gallagher said his pilot’s efforts to move cattle hit an unexpected hurdle — crocodiles. “He went to shift some cows off a ridge, and when they walked into the water, there was a hell of a commotion, and they all shot back under the helicopter, and he said there was four big salties in the water,” he said.
On the coast, a severe weather warning south of Ingham to north of Bowen is likely to continue across the weekend, with onshore winds colliding over the north east coast and bringing more rain with heavy falls possible around Townsville.
Townsville Mayor Nick Dametto said there had been a reprieve in the past 24 hours, but a king tide of more than 3.9 metres was affecting low-lying areas. “Our sandbagging supplies have been replenished … making sure people have access to sandbags is very important, especially with more rain expected.”
Residents, including Duncan Fyfe, have had enough. “You’re stressed out overnight, you’re watching the rain, you’re looking at the BOM maps, and it gets emotionally draining,” he said.