Bruce Highway bridge collapse cuts off flooded north Queensland

A small but critical Bruce Highway bridge north of Townsville has collapsed, cutting an important supply route to regions hit hard by flooding rains.

Transcript

00:00This weather event had already cut the Bruce Highway in several places throughout north

00:07Queensland, but a serious bridge washout north of Townsville is a major hit to this critical

00:14piece of infrastructure.

00:16The Ullara Creek Bridge near Rollingstone is completely out of action.

00:21Traffic is being turned around north and south of the bridge, and there is no sign of when

00:26repair work might be able to start as heavy rain continues to torment the north tropical

00:31coast.

00:32This bridge is east of Paluma, a small town that has been hammered by more than 1,000

00:39millimetres of rain since Saturday.

00:42The Bureau of Meteorology says widespread intense rainfall could ease today, but locally

00:48intense falls remain a risk, thus prolonging the risk of flash flooding and riverine flooding.

00:57South of where I am, there are four evacuation centres open in Townsville, with thousands

01:02of residents already displaced by this flooding event, waiting to find out if their properties

01:08have been inundated.

01:10The damage to this Bruce Highway bridge is an indication of how long the recovery efforts

01:16may be after this weather event, which is far from over.