Resident Chris Brookehouse, whose home is flooded, told ABC: "The volume of water is just incredible. Downstairs is gone, the fridge and freezer are floating. Another five or six steps and upstairs is gone too."<doc-sep>Queensland authorities have said the state’s north was entering “unprecedented territory” as monsoon rains battered the city of Townsville, setting record flood levels and destroying homes. As the natural disaster entered its four day, the state emergency service confirmed on Saturday that 80 people had been rescued. It was too early to quantify the damage to homes, although some media reports said at least 50 homes had been affected so far. “We have not been in this scenario before,” said the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk. “There has been a lot of rain that has been falling, especially over the Townsville catchment, and some of these levels are unprecedented. “It is very important that you listen to the local authorities today.” The worst of the conditions were expected over the next two days, and authorities described the next 48 hours as “crucial”. On Friday, Palaszczuk had described the incoming monsoon as a “once in a 100-year” event and Townsville was declared a disaster zone. SES volunteers are seen rescuing residents in Rosslea, Townsville Photograph: Andrew Rankin/AAP Authorities said it was crucial that residents listened to emergency measures, did not drive through floodwaters and paid urged heed to warnings about moving to higher ground. “From Mackay north and west, there is going to be flooding so for the broader community, please, if it’s flooded, just forget it,” the state’s disaster coordinator, Bob Gee, said on Saturday. Between 100mm and 300mm of rain was expected within the next 24 hours and the town’s seven-day rainfall record was also likely to be toppled. “Townsville is currently seeing a record flood height of the Ackland Weir,” Gee said. “Earlier this morning it was a height of 2.36m but we can expect that, with forecast rainfall, to reach up to 2.9m over the weekend at some stage.” A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the areas at risk over the next few days included Herbert and Lower Burdekin. “We expect the peak in the rainfall to recur again tonight and continuing into next week,” he said. “There’s several more days to go in this flood event.” An emergency alert flood message was in place for residents in areas adjacent to the Bohle River, Saunders Creek and Stoney Creek, and for the suburbs of Deeragun, Jensen and Burdell. Schools and businesses in Townsville were to remain shut and thousands of residents had been evacuated to higher ground, AAP reported. Homes and businesses have been destroyed as flash floods washed through streets, sweeping away cars, equipment and livestock. Just another fun day in #Townsville . It never rains here; it #floods . Being in a QLDer on 4M steel stumps has its benefits. The Mazdarati is safe at Dad's above the 1946 floodline and we have the Rover! Only leaving if the power cuts. #TownsvilleFloods2019 pic.twitter.com/KLQZJjrsmB — madvoice (@madvoice) February 1, 2019 Landslips destabilised an apartment complex, blocked roads and caused homes to be evacuated. As of Saturday morning, 100 homes were at risk from the bulging Ross River dam, which was at 185% of capacity late on Friday. Soldiers were mobilised to help sand-bag vulnerable properties as authorities went door to door telling people they should leave at-risk homes. The worsening flood conditions in north Queensland come as fire services in Tasmania battle blazes that have destroyed wilderness areas in the pristine island state. Palaszczuk acknowledged that the heavy rainfall had been better news for drought-affected parts of Queensland, west of Townsville. Flood warnings remained in place for the following catchments: Mulgrave, Russell, Tully, Murray, Herbert, Ross, Bohle, Haughton, Burdekin, Don, Isaac, Leichhardt, Nicholson, Gregory, Flinders, Cloncurry and Diamantina Rivers. Further north, coastal communities on the Gulf of Carpentaria had been told to prepare for the highest tides of the year as the monsoon trough whipped up gale force winds.<doc-sep>Intense rain and flash flooding has been causing devastation in north Queensland for 11 days with conditions not expected to weaken until the weekend. The unprecedented flooding has brought devastation to much of the region — especially Townsville — leaving potentially thousands of homes underwater and causing roads and bridges to disappear. But the flooding has also brought out plenty of unexpected nasties — specifically crocodiles and snakes, which locals have reported seeing wandering streets and swimming in water flowing through areas they shouldn’t be. The horrifying visitors, as well as the sheer amount of water gushing through the region, has been watched and reported on by the rest of the world in horror. “Snakes and crocodiles have been spotted roaming the streets of northern Queensland in Australia after ‘unprecedented’ floods,” the New York Times wrote. *moves Queensland to the bottom of bucket list in case snake kills me* — Noprah. (@WurrboutYoSelf) January 31, 2019 “Crocodiles and snakes too have been spotted by residents battling the deluge of rain in Queensland, Australia,” Sky News UK added. The Independent also sent out a disbelieving tweet after speaking to an Irish family in Queensland. 'Crocodiles are climbing trees... we've never seen anything like it' - Irish family forced to evacuate Queensland home in record flooding https://t.co/31ZmLRWR9l pic.twitter.com/JLKzrPxpI0 — Independent.ie (@Independent_ie) February 5, 2019 And a tweet from ABC News in the US went viral late last night, that showed a mammoth crocodile escaping floodwaters by perching on a fallen tree. "That's unreal!" A crocodile is seen climbing a tree in Townsville, Queensland to escape raging floodwaters. Crocodile warnings have been issued in the Australian city amid "unprecedented" levels of flooding. https://t.co/5Jf0tep9uH pic.twitter.com/xu7c4K641P — ABC News (@ABC) February 5, 2019 “Poor croc. You know that it’s bad when the Crocodiles are trying to get to dry land. Be safe my Australian friends,” one US man wrote. “Time to evacuate Australia,” another commenter added. ‘STAY OUT OF THE WATER’ Authorities are sending out daily warnings to try and keep Queenslanders out of floodwaters. “Playing in flood waters is extremely dangerous, not just because of the unpredictable nature of the water itself, but also because what may lie beneath the surface,” police said in a statement earlier this week. “Crocodiles have been reported in flood waters in parts of Townsville, and there can also be snakes and other wildlife present.” Rain was still coming as emergency workers used boats, choppers and tip-trucks to rescue well over 1000 residents from Townsville’s flooded suburbs. They were helped by many other citizen heroes including some in an armada of fishermen’s tinnies who braved the murky snake and croc-filled floodwaters to help their neighbours. Despite authorities struggling with some people entering floodwaters, most locals are terrified. In flooded Hermit Park, near the city centre, Andrew Roberts said he and his wife, Cass, have food, water, and a radio — and won’t be leaving their two storey home of 14 years. “It’s a little bit scary because when it floods in Townsville, the crocs get into the water,” Mr Roberts told AAP. “My biggest concern is getting eaten.” It makes crossing the murky water in their house to refuel the generator a hair-raising experience, he added. Police have also previously warned Queenslanders about potentially swimming in their neighbour’s faeces or being hit by things like fridges. If the thought of coming face to face with a crocodile isn't deterrent enough, before you start playing in flood waters you should always remember the distinct possibility you could be wading in your neighbour's faeces. Yes. Their faeces. 💩 https://t.co/W3RT1O3ACX #bigwet pic.twitter.com/XhpnkNMY7E — Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 4, 2019 Your 👀 aren't deceiving you. If the dangerous undertow, fast flowing waters, diseases, dead animals and the live ones 🐍🐍 don't convince you to stay out of flood waters ..... may be this fridge will! #bigwet #Townsville #floodwater https://t.co/VgBo9zBnoU — Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 4, 2019 On February 3, Townsville local Erin Hahn posted a photo of a crocodile sitting metres away from a family’s driveway. “Croc out the front of my dads place in Mundingburra, O’Reilly street, Ross River Road end. Cannot stress it enough to stay out of the water,” Ms Hahn wrote. The post has since been shared more than 23,000 times. On January 30, when the region’s unprecedented flooding started to kick off, a Queensland driver caught the moment a 3.5m crocodile walked in front of his car. Justin Mills was driving home through Ingham, three hours south of Cairns, on the Bruce Highway late at night when he was forced to slam on his brakes. In front of him was a 3.5m croc, slowly meandering across the busy highway. The region has been lashed by floods the past week, causing the rivers to swell and crocodiles to end up in areas — like the Bruce Highway — they wouldn’t normally be exploring. MORE RAIN AHEAD Heavy rain continued to pelt Australia’s flood-ravaged northeast today, prompting the authorities to warn of further flash flooding in the hours ahead. An Emergency Alert flood message has been issued for Bluewater, Bluewater Park, Toolakea and Saunders Beach. The message advises properties in these areas are at risk of flash flooding due to intense rainfall in the Bluewater Creek catchment causing water levels to rise. Residents are advised to move to higher ground if concerned. Prime Minister Scott Morrison toured the region where “once-in-a-century” floods have inundated thousands of homes and closed airports and schools, leaving cars and houses submerged. “It’s just going to be tough, going to be tough for a while,” Mr Morrison said, expressing sympathy for young families who had lost their homes. “The real work is to make sure that they can get through the clean-up and rebuild their lives.” In hard-hit Townsville, more than 650 people have been evacuated from their homes and about 11,000 houses remained without power Tuesday. Around 9000 more have asked for help. Even as stormwaters receded in some areas, there seems little prospect of an immediate respite from what locals call the “Big Wet”.<doc-sep>Many parts of Queensland have been declared disaster zones and thousands of residents evacuated due to a 1-in-100-year flood. Townsville is at the epicentre of the “unprecedented” monsoonal downpour that brought more than a year’s worth of rain in just a few days, and the emergency is far from over with yet more torrential rain expected. Such monumental disruption calls for emergency work to safeguard crucial infrastructure such as bridges, dams, motorways, railways, power substations, power lines and telecommunications cables. In turn, that requires accurate, timely mapping of flood waters. For the first time in Australia, our research team has been monitoring the floods closely using a new technique involving European satellites, which allows us to “see” beneath the cloud cover and map developments on the ground. Read more: Floods don't occur randomly, so why do we still plan as if they do? Given that the flooding currently covers a 700km stretch of coast from Cairns to Mackay, it would take days to piece together the big picture of the flood using airborne mapping. What’s more, conventional optical imaging satellites are easily “blinded” by cloud cover. But a radar satellite can fly over the entire state in a matter of seconds, and an accurate and comprehensive flood map can be produced in less than an hour. Eyes above the skies Our new method uses an imaging technology called “synthetic aperture radar” (SAR), which can observe the ground day or night, through cloud cover or smoke. By combining and comparing SAR images, we can determine the progress of an unfolding disaster such as a flood. In simple terms, if an area is not flooded on the first image but is inundated on the second image, the resulting discrepancy between the two images can help to reveal the flood’s extent and identify the advancing flood front. To automate this process and make it more accurate, we use two pairs of images: a “pre-event pair” taken before the flood, and a “co-event pair” made up of one image before the flood, and another later image during the flooding. The European satellites have been operated strategically to collect images globally once every 12 days, making it possible for us to test this new technique in Townsville as soon as flooding occurs. To monitor the current floods in Townsville, we took the pre-event images on January 6 and January 18, 2019. The co-event pair was collected on January 18 and January 30. These sets of images were then used to generate the accurate and detailed flood map shown below. The image comparisons can all be done algorithmically, without a human having to scrutinise the images themselves. Then we can just look out for image pairs with significant discrepancies, and then concentrate our attention on those. European Space Agency/Smart Spatial Technology Development Laborator (SSTD), UNSW , Author provided Read more: Planning for a rainy day: there's still lots to learn about Australia's flood patterns Our technique potentially avoids the need to monitor floods from airborne reconnaissance planes – a dangerous or even impossible task amid heavy rains, strong wind, thick cloud and lightning. This timely flood intelligence from satellites can be used to switch off critical infrastructure such as power substations before flood water reaches them.<doc-sep>
After eight days of heavy monsoonal rain, authorities in the north Queensland city of Townsville had no choice but to open the floodgates of the Ross River Dam, deliberately flooding about 2,000 homes. The decision was made as the Queensland government also published a warning to people to beware of crocodiles, snakes and other wildlife, which were reported to have left the swollen river and headed into some suburban areas. Some parts of Queensland have had more than 1.5m of rain since last weekend. At Ingham, north of Townsville, 419mm fell in a single day on Sunday. At Townsville almost 1m was recorded at Townsville airport across eight days of torrential rain. The average annual rainfall for the same weather gauge is 1127.9mm. A freshwater crocodile spotted on O’Reilly Street, Mundingburra, on the weekend during the Townsville floods. Photograph: Erin Hahn Rescue operations – some conducted by the State Emergency Service, some by helpful locals in their single-motor fishing boats – to help residents escape the floodwaters in low-lying city suburbs were still underway late on Monday. In parts of north Queensland, monsoonal rains have bucketed more water in eight days than in a typical year. The Ross River dam above Townsville was measured at a remarkable 247% capacity on Sunday night before the decision was made to release more water, in an attempt to avert a catastrophic collapse. With the floodgates fully open, about 1,900 cubic metres of water a second was released. That stabilised the dam, which on Monday afternoon was holding 523,475 megalitres, or 225% its typical capacity. But the fast-flowing water release caused the Ross River to break its banks and inundate several low-lying areas on Townsville’s south side. Near the suburb of Idalia, a flooded road was transformed into a temporary boat ramp by residents, who used their single-motor fishing boats to help people escape their flooded homes. About 1,000 people spent Sunday night in evacuation shelters, and emergency services conducted 18 “swiftwater” rescues, where people were pulled from flowing floodwaters. The Ross River reached its peak about 11am on Monday and was expected to remain at that level until late on Tuesday night. But the weather remains unpredictable, with a monsoon trough still hovering above north Queensland, and threatening to bucket more rain on the region. Schools were closed and students will be told to remain at home on Tuesday. With the Bruce Highway cut to the north and south of Townsville, supermarkets began to run short of food. Fears of critical shortages were allayed when the Townsville airport was reopened about 2pm and supplies were able to be flown in. Residents were also warned to conserve water as it flowed through town; the flooding caused pipes to burst at the Douglas water treatment plant. The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said she had “never seen” a flood like this before. She said the floodgates had to be opened “to make sure the water had somewhere to go”. Palaszczuk warned people on Monday afternoon that the threat of flash-flooding remained, and that residents should not to be complacent. “As we know there is still heavy rainfall across the area, this monsoonal trough doesn’t seem to want to move much at all,” Palaszczuk said. The state’s disaster coordinator, deputy police commissioner Bob Gee, told people not to drive unless necessary. “We are still in response phase,” Gee said. “It’s really critical that we don’t have a false sense of security, people need to stay away.” The ‘once in a century’ flooding in Townsville. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Queensland’s environment minister, Leeanne Enoch, warned residents about the dangers posed by crocodiles. “Crocodiles prefer calmer waters and they may move around in search of a quiet place to wait for floodwaters to recede,” she said. “Crocodiles may be seen crossing roads and, when flooding recedes, crocodiles can turn up in unusual places such as farm dams or waterholes where they have not been seen before. “Similarly, snakes are very good swimmers and they too may turn up unexpectedly.” Andrew Roberts said he was more worried about being eaten by a crocodile in his Townsville home than chest-high water surging through the ground floor. “It’s a little bit scary because, when it floods in Townsville, the crocs get into the water.” Roberts, who lives in low-lying Hermit Park, was also angry about the decision to release water from the Ross River dam. “We were lambs to the slaughter,” he said.