Emergency services have received hundreds of call for assistance as flood waters continue to rise through the night.Australian Defence Force members have launched boats into the streets of Idalia, in Townsville’s south, searching for any lights on or residents in need of rescue.Emergency services are no longer able to use road vehicles to get into Idalia for rescues.It is understood there are currently about 20 active calls for assistance in the suburb.Meanwhile heavy rain has continued to lash the city with widespread falls between 150mm and 250mm recorded in the CBD and most surrounding areas since 9am Sunday.About 192mm of rain has fallen over the Ross River Dam in this time.17,000 properties across Townsville are currently without power.A fifth evacuation centre has now been opened, with the Ignatius Park College now full.Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sam Campbell said over Townsville at the moment we’re seeing falls around 30-40mm in three hours.“We’re expecting rainfall to continue that way overnight and we could see widespread falls of 100-200mm around the Townsville region, and localised totals possible of 250mm over the next 12 hours,” Mr Campbell said.“We still have a severe weather warning current that could produce thunderstorms and possibility of destructive wind gusts in coastal locations overnight.”If it is safe to do so, residents in those areas should move to higher ground.⚠️ Dangerous & high velocity flows will occur in the As floodwaters continue to rise across low-lying areas of Townsville, reports of residents being evacuated are coming in as well as unconfirmed reports of Annandale residents being rescued from roofs.Raymond McConville’s house in Railway Estate was completely flooded so he’s now trying to help others in the community.“A lady called me she has a young daughter with her and they need help.”Mr McConville said so far they couldn’t get to Idalia and Oonoonba from the highway.“A lady in Idalia with her daughter called me crying and saying her and her daughter are standing on the kitchen table and SES hasn’t come yet,” he said.More than 15,000 homes are currently without power across Townsville as flood waters continue to rise.Ergon Energy has had to cut power to a number of areas heavily impacted by the rising flood waters for safety.The car park at CastleTown shopping Centre is flooding in Townsville as water levels rise.
The Ross River Dam spillway gates are now fully open.Residents in the following suburbs should prepare for imminent flooding from a rapidly rising Ross River.If safe to do so, please move to higher ground immediately.I understand Iggy Park evacuation centre is almost full. How to clear overhead branches? Fetch the Townsville, Australia current conditions and weather forecast for today, tomorrow and the next 10 days. Get the weather forecast with today, tomorrow, and 10-day forecast graph. You do not need to register for this service.Your local council's Disaster Management Group may release warnings and alerts specific to your area in a disaster or emergency.Do you know how to prepare around your home for storm season? See a list of all of the Official Weather Advisories, Warnings, and Severe Weather Alerts for Townsville, Queensland, Australia. Go ... 17,000 properties across Townsville are currently without power. The system will enable the Local Disaster Management Group to send out alerts to people in the direct path of a severe weather event.
To put this into perspective, over the course of the 2019 weather event, the Ross River Dam (RRD) received 850,000 megalitres of rainfall, which is 3.8 times the RRD's capacity.
If you're trying to get to safety go for Heatley Secondary College evac point (very nearby) as there is more space there Heavy rainfall into the Ross River Dam catchment is expected to push the water level to a height which will automatically open the spillway gates to full between 8pm and 8.30pm.Residents in the following suburbs should get to higher ground immediately:If you require evacuation assistance, contact SES on 132 500. Unprecedented areas of flooding will occur in Townsville. Issued at 6:10 pm EST 3/2/19 READ: A warning message from authorities warn “an unprecedented amount of water” is about to inundate the city as a band of heavy rain combines with spill from Ross River Dam.Residents in many suburbs across Townsville are warned that they may experience flooding from rapid rises of the Ross River.The dam spillway gates may open to their full setting between the hours of 8.30pm tonight and 6am tomorrow.This setting would release up to 2000 cubic metres of water per second out of the dam.Everyone should ensure they move away from riverbanks and get to higher ground before 8.30pm tonight.‼️Please see map of potential inundated properties.‼️Residents still in their homes in these suburbs should move to the highest ground in their dwelling before 8.30pm tonight.Townsville City Council and the Australian Defence Force are working to provide bottled water to the residents of Cungulla.The pump station was without power for several hours.There are four evacuation centres people are advised to move to immediately if they are in the flood warning zones: Residents have been urged to stay away from flooded areas and listen to emergency warning alerts. The 2019 weather event was the largest rainfall event to have occurred over the Townsville catchment in the past 120 years.