A man is missing and some Townsville residents are again being told to leave their homes as north Queensland’s flood disaster rolls on.
Severe weather warnings are in place for parts of the state’s north, northwest, peninsula and gulf country as storms and a monsoon trough dump extraordinary amounts of rain.
The disaster-declared Townsville region copped more downpours this morning, sparking fresh evacuation warnings.
Residents of Black River, Bluewater, Beach Holm, Yabulu and Toolakea have been told to consider leaving their homes.
Water levels in those communities are already high and more rain could wash water through more homes, as it did at Bluewater on Wednesday.
Bluewater resident Roger Goodwin said the rain had been “horrendous” since about 2am, and a wall of water hit his property two hours later.
“We had a metre-and-a-half of water come through the house again — or under my house,” he told ABC.
Mr Goodwin thinks he saw a dead cow float by at one stage, and says Bluewater has had about 900mm of rain in the past three days.
“The noise of the flood that goes under the house, it is unbelievable,” he said.
Mr Goodwin’s neighbours are staying with him as their house has been swamped. He expects dozens of homes will emerge with flood damage.
At the moment he’s staying put, but only because his house is three metres off the ground.
The atrocious weather is hindering efforts to find a man feared missing at Giru, south of Townsville.
The 32-year-old was last seen on foot near Black Gully about 5pm on Thursday and authorities fear he entered the floodwaters trying to get home.
A search for him resumed at first light this morning.
The once-in-20-year weather event caused residents in Townsville to be evacuated after a landslip damaged an apartment complex’s foundation and retaining walls yesterday.
The Bruce Highway remains cut-off south of Townsville and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has ordered schools and childcare centres in the flood zone not to open today.
The disaster has forced the cancellation of all school and urban bus services in the city, and the Townsville courts will not operate today.
There is also the potential for flash flooding in parts of northwestern Queensland today and tomorrow.
Communities near the Northern Territory border, including Mount Isa, Cloncurry and Julia Creek, are at risk.
Residents along Cape York Peninsula’s western coastline and in the Torres Strait have also been warned to expect abnormally high tides and the possibility of gale-force monsoonal winds into the weekend.
Townsville mayor Jenny Hill said yesterday the flood emergency is far from over with three to four more days of very heavy rain expected.
Townsville’s Ross River Dam is at 140 per cent of capacity, forcing operator SunWater to partially open its spill gates.
Ms Hill said the dam, which was built to mitigate flooding in the city’s south, was doing its job.
She said SunWater had modelled what would happen if the dam’s gates had to be opened fully.
“SunWater have an emergency action plan. We’ve got to trust them,” the mayor said.
“I lived through what was called the Night of Noah in 1988,” she said, when the remnants of a cyclone caused vast flooding in Townsville.
“It’s not quite as bad as that but we’re waiting (to see what the weather does).”
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