03 Feb 2019; DW: Unrelenting torrential rain lashed parts of the northeastern state of Queensland on Sunday, bursting river banks and inundating roads and homes.
Local authorities issued a number of flash flood warnings for the area surrounding the coastal city of Townsville, which has just experienced its wettest seven days on record. Some 1,012 millimeters (40 inches) of rain was dumped there over the past week, compared to the previous high of 886 millimeters in 1998.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) also warned that the flood-hit area could face tornadoes.
"Atmospheric conditions are ripe for tornadoes and waterspouts around Townsville," the agency said on Twitter. "Damaging to destructive winds are possible in these intense storm cells."
Flash flood warnings
Emergency services urged people in low-lying suburbs to move to higher ground before Sunday evening, when spillway gates at the city's swollen Ross River Dam are due to open.
Thousands of Townsville's 82,000 homes have already been evacuated, while 400 army personnel are working to distribute sandbags to properties at risk of inundation.
"It's basically not just a one in 20-year event, it's a one in 100-year event," Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters Saturday.
Townsville disaster coordinator Steve Munro told public broadcaster the ABC that up to 500 homes in the city were currently affected by flooding. That number could rise to 20,000 if the rain continues, he added.
Conditions are expected to ease from Thursday, but BOM meteorologist Dean Narramore said more heavy rain was forecast for the coming days.
"For some locations this is approaching the yearly [rainfall] average in just a week," he said. "Over the next three days the monsoon trough and low isn't expected to move anywhere. We're expecting to see heavy falls continue."
Helicopter rescue
Meanwhile, on Saturday two German and two Swiss nationals were uninjured after getting caught in their cars as the flood waters rose. A local farmer picked them up in his private helicopter from the flooded Diamantina River near Middleton in Queensland, the Associated Press reported.
