Video: Torrential rain menaces cyclone-ravaged north Queensland – Flooding ‘unbelievable, it’s from horizon to horizon’
By Peter Michael, Brian Williams, and Koren Helbig
March 09, 2011 SHATTERED Cyclone Yasi victims are battling a second cruel blow as torrential rain floods already-battered towns, leaving residents stranded and sodden. Cardwell is isolated, with roads cut to the north and the south. Forecasters predict 200mm of rain between Cooktown and Innisfail until tomorrow morning and authorities have set up an evacuation centre. Residents warn the downpour has set back the already massive recovery effort as they struggle to protect their homes with little more than tarps. Many drains are still clogged with cyclone debris overflow. Seventeen rescue specialists were deployed to Cairns and Townsville yesterday, while police recovered the body of Kuranda woman Michelle Murray after her car was swept away in raging floodwaters. Premier Anna Bligh yesterday said her heart went out to north Queenslanders. “Those people, particularly in Cardwell, still reeling from Cyclone Yasi, must be thinking what on earth is next,” she said.
Dozens of roads are closed in the far north and an area the size of Tasmania is inundated in the southwest as Queensland’s big wet continues.A new cyclone likely to develop 1000km northeast of Mackay today is not expected to threaten the coast, but forecasters warned of more storms to come. Wet weather that has plagued the Townsville region should also ease today but falls ranging up to 200mm will continue in the coastal strip between Cooktown and Innisfail until tomorrow morning. A low 1000km northeast of Mackay is expected to build into a Category 1 cyclone today, although it is tipped to move away from Queensland. Floods closed the Bruce Highway to the north and south of Ingham and near the Cardwell range. To the south, the highway is closed at Francis and Cattle creeks. The body of Michelle Murray, 42, of Kuranda, a psychology research assistant at James Cook University in Cairns, was yesterday found 1km away from where her car was swept off a flooded creek crossing early Monday. The UK-born student, who worked part-time in the Kuranda market, tried to cross a flooded causeway in a hatchback, police said. Swift-water specialists found her body about 11am after a search in a creek near her Barron Falls home. … Bedourie Senior Constable Tim Farran said at least three-quarters of their massive shire was under water. “It’s unbelievable,” he said. “When you are flying, it’s from horizon to horizon.” … Weather bureau forecaster Vikash Prasad said the developing cyclone should head away from Australia but conditions were ripe for more big storms closer to the coast. “The monsoon trough is active and will remain so right into April,” Mr Prasad said.
"…must be thinking what on earth is next," she said."
that's easy!
An UNINHABITABLE CLIMATE.