Heavy rainfall expected this weekend for flood affected parts of Queensland

Severe weather warnings continue in places across far north Queensland.

Transcript

00:00Widespread heavy rainfall is expected across northern and central parts of Queensland this

00:05weekend, and this includes across the flood-affected parts of the northeast tropical coast.

00:11Now there are already a number of flood warnings in place extending all the way from Cairns

00:16down towards St Lawrence, including major flood warnings for the Murray and for the

00:21Herbert Rivers, with minor to moderate flood warnings elsewhere across the region, including

00:26moderate flood warnings for the Tully, the Burdekin, the Ross, the Bowley, and down south

00:31we've got the Connors and the Isaac Rivers.

00:34Now I just want to draw your attention to also this initial minor flood warning for

00:39the Berkoo River, and that's due to the last couple of days seeing some heavy rainfall

00:43totals further inland.

00:45Now we do also have extensive flood watches across the northern and central interior, and

00:51that's because we're moving towards several days where moderate to heavy rainfalls are expected.

00:56So let's take a look at how this rainfall is expected to play out over the next few days.

01:01Now there's a lot of tropical moisture sitting across northern Queensland at the moment,

01:06and that's combining with this monsoon trough to bring rain areas and an increase in both

01:11shower and storm activity.

01:14Now by Saturday we're expecting there to be a burst of widespread heavy rainfall about

01:20the northeast tropical Queensland coast extending further inland.

01:25Now a severe weather warning is likely to be issued tomorrow for heavy rainfall that

01:30may lead to life-threatening flash flooding.

01:33Now grounds are very wet across the region and river systems already very swollen, so

01:39any further rainfall that falls across this area is going to respond very quickly and

01:44leads to an increase in both flash and riverine flooding.

01:49Now as we move into Saturday we can see this tropical low that develops in the Coral Sea

01:54just off the coast.

01:56Now there's a low chance of this developing into a tropical cyclone and it is expected

02:01to move eastwards away from the mainland, which we'll see on Sunday.

02:07So we see this low pressure system moving away with heavy rainfall, potentially continuing

02:12but moving slightly northwards as that monsoon trough moves northwards, but as that low moves

02:17away it draws in much drier air, seeing the showers clear from the coast down towards

02:23the south, and as we move into Monday that dry air extends further northwards to include

02:29Townsville as well.

02:32So how much rainfall are we expecting with this event?

02:37This is the accumulated rainfall totals between now all the way through until Sunday evening,

02:43with widespread totals between 200-300 mm possible.

02:48Now we're not expecting these peak rainfall totals to be anywhere near what we saw last

02:53weekend or earlier this week, however there is still the chance of big humidity impacts

02:59due to grounds being so wet and catchments so swollen.

03:04So unfortunately we do have very heavy rainfall on the forecast for those flood affected areas

03:08of northeast Queensland, so please stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings

03:12via the Bureau website, app and social media, and as always, listen to the advice from your

03:18local emergency services.