Barcaldine residents, in Queensland’s central west, woke up on Sunday morning to streets awash in water after a 105mm overnight deluge, following on from a downpour the previous day that brought 51.4mm.
The rain temporarily closed access to Barcaldine via the Capricorn and Landsborough Highways to the east and west of the town, and also between Barcaldine and Aramac, thanks to local flooding.
Fifteen kilometres south of Barcaldine, Graham and Jenny Lawrence reported a “sea of water” out their window after tipping out 150mm on Sunday morning.
On top of 80mm on Friday night, this gives them a grand total of 230mm or nine inches for two days.
“It’s all been getting away quickly,” Jenny said. “The run-off all goes into the Alice River.”
Ten km west of Barcaldine, David Counsell at Dunblane was reported as having 125mm, with the same amount listed for Richmond Hills to the east of the town.
The rain wave moved in an easterly direction through the night, and Gus Carter at Jaccondoll was able to tip out 60mm, on top of 32mm on Friday night.
As with the Lawrences, he received rain at the start of the year and said his grass would “really jump out of the ground now”.
Other good falls were reported by Lee Clews at Cronulla, 10km north of Alpha, who had up to 75mm on Saturday night and said it was still showering on Sunday, and 72mm at Minnamoora, 42km north west of Jericho.
Not only was it grass-growing rain but had provided run-off, which landholders were delighted with.
People in the township of Ilfracombe, which is on level four water restrictions and who had been carting water to homes, were excited to see water running into their empty town dam on Sunday morning.
Not so lucky were landholders further south of Barcaldine. Duncan Ferguson at Barcaldine Downs said he’d had 25mm at his house but very little on his western country.
“It has proved it can still rain,” he said. “I just hope it keeps on coming and fills in the gaps for a lot of people.”
The Bureau of Meteorology on Sunday was forecasting a high over the southern Tasman Sea would maintain the ridge along the east Queensland coast whilst a broad area of low pressure lay over the centre of the continent.
A series of upper troughs will move across the state, combining with increasing surface moisture to produce showers and thunderstorms over the interior of the state for the next few days.
- Additional reporting Helen Walker.
