Outback Queensland drenching continues

ABC NEWS (Australia)

After a hot, dry summer outback Queensland is rejoicing thanks to a soaking. More than 100-millimetres has been recorded in the south-west, an area that missed the rain from the recent cyclone. While it is welcome relief for graziers, some in north Queensland have been told to prepare for possible flooding.

Transcript

00:00A much-needed drenching in western Queensland.

00:06You can imagine a season's worth of rain out of this event potentially for some parts particularly

00:09further south.

00:10After days of rain, some outback towns are already isolated.

00:16Tracks have turned to mud.

00:18A South Australian tourist is stranded in the Simpson Desert.

00:22He started trying to drive and then he's realised it was too boggy to continue and too boggy

00:28to turn back.

00:29We're going to have to hold tight and they can contact the police via their radios.

00:36In the south-west, the Rutledge family is welcoming the downpour in Quilpey.

00:41It's nice to see some summer rain, get some grass growing, so before that it was very

00:46dry.

00:47I don't want to have any of the massive rain that's been around.

00:50We're quite happy to be at the lower end of the scale.

00:53The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting potentially heavy falls for the next two days in outback

00:57Queensland.

00:59The number of flood warnings across the west.

01:01The same system is impacting north Queensland, with residents preparing for yet another soaking.

01:08With all the rain that we've had, the catchments are absolutely saturated.

01:12So any further rainfall we have, there's a very high risk of flash flooding.

01:17Townsville has recorded two metres of rain since the start of the year.

01:20We have already broken several records and we're likely to break more, including the

01:24annual record for Townsville in particular.

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