Townsville has been declared a disaster zone as all schools are closed and businesses are urged to allow workers to stay home if possible. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has ordered all Townsville schools and childcare centres to close today. The decision was made after an emergency briefing, giving families as much prior warning as possible. “We need to ensure everyone’s safety,” she said. “The bureau’s advice is, if this monsoonal weather continues, the next few days could see more heavy rainfall. “It is safer if families are not trying to get to and from school.” Heavy rainfall is picking up again in #Townsville with 52mm recorded in the last hour at the airport. The airport has now had 180mm since 9am. ⚠️ FLASH FLOODING IS LIKELY⚠️ given the saturated ground. Please take care and remember #IfItsFloodedForgetIt. #BigWet — Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) January 31, 2019 The disaster situation declaration gives police wider evacuation powers if needed. The severe weather is a once in 20 year event. Ms Palaszczuk said people should take care on the roads, stay home if possible and remember if it’s flooded forget it. The Queensland Disaster Management Committee will meet at Kedron at 10am on Friday to assess the situation. Police have urged businesses to consider allowing workers to stay home in a bid to keep people off the roads. While rainfall rates have eased over the warning area in the past three to six hours, the Bureau warns there remains a high risk of redevelopment of heavy rainfall bands, with the potential to produce flash flooding, over the warning area this evening and during Friday. “Six-hourly rainfall totals between 150mm to 200mm are likely with this activity, with isolated heavier falls possible, particularly with bands of thunderstorms,” the warning says. “Creek and river catchments are already saturated and will therefore respond very rapidly to any rainfall. “Longer term, the restrengthening of the monsoon trough over the weekend may lead to multiple areas of heavy to intense rainfall over already saturated ground between about Innisfail and Bowen, with the potential for particularly significant and dangerous flash flooding.” All Townsville district schools and childcare centres will be closed tomorrow. The Bureau warns if monsoon trough continues we face a continuing weather event. Take care of neighbours, stay tuned to local warnings and remember if it’s flooded forget it. pic.twitter.com/jCO244t6dT — Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) January 31, 2019 TOWNSVILLE FORECAST Friday: Rain, storm. 150mm to 200mm. Saturday: Rain, storm. 150mm to 200mm. Sunday: Rain, storm. 120mm to 200mm. Monday: Rain, storm. 120mm to 200mm. Tuesday: Rain, storm. 60mm to 100mm. TRAFFIC CHAOS An inner-city rock slide, flooded roads and a number of traffic crashes has affected motorists around the Townsville region. A rock slide has closed one lane of Sturt Street in Townsville City, understood to be near the public car park opposite the Townsville Bulletin print site. Townsville City Council has advised motorists to slow down and drive to the conditions. A number of roads also remain closed or have limited access due to floodwaters, including Abbot Street in Idalia, the Lower Bohle Bridge, Allambie Lane at Rasmussen, Giru-Woodstock Road at Majors Creek, and the Bruce Highway at the Haughton River Bridge. ROAD CLOSURES Bruce Highway, Haughton River Bridge: Closed to all traffic, long delays expected Woolcock St Bridge (Lower Bohle River Bridge): Closed to all traffic, long delays Hervey Range Road, Lynam: Closed due to landslides, delays expected Mount Spec Road, Crystal Creek/Paluma: Closed due to landslides, surface water Woodstock Giru Road, Majors Creek: Closed to all traffic, long delays expected Ingham Halifax Road, Halifax: Closed to all traffic, delays expected Wallaman Falls Road, Lannercost: Closed to all traffic Flash flooding is occurring on many roads, with caution urged: Bruce Highway at Black River/Bluewater and Rollingstone; Railway Avenue, Railway Estate.<doc-sep>A disaster situation has been declared for the Townsville area after days of heavy rain that also caused a landslip in the city, forcing authorities to evacuate several properties. Key points: Properties in Townsville threatened by landslip after heavy rain Properties in Townsville threatened by landslip after heavy rain Disaster declared and all schools in Townsville ordered closed on Friday Disaster declared and all schools in Townsville ordered closed on Friday Monsoonal rain set to continue over north Queensland into the weekend Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has ordered all schools and childcare centres in Townsville to close on Friday as the emergency continues, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting the monsoonal weather will stretch into the weekend. The Queensland Disaster Management Committee will meet in Brisbane on Friday morning. On Thursday afternoon police in Townsville ordered the evacuation of several properties, including a unit complex, after a retaining wall gave way as a result of heavy rain. Police said they were advised about 1:15pm (AEST) that part of a hill behind Stanley Street had given way, damaging a retaining wall and part of the unit complex. Officers have evacuated all residents in the block, and from two nearby properties, including a second unit complex. No injuries have been reported thus far. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Assistant (QFES) Commissioner David Hermann said authorities from Townsville City Council had a structural engineer on site assessing the situation. A car was picked up by floodwaters at this house near Townsville. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn "The residents have been evacuated at this point in time and the Local Disaster Management Group is assisting the residents to find alternative accommodation," he said. Mr Hermann said authorities had earlier issued an emergency warning for the Alligator Creek area, south of Townsville, due to the heavy rain. "Just to raise a level of awareness amongst the community down there and give the community some specific instructions about how to protect themselves from the current weather event," he said. "At this point it's all good, but they have received a significant amount of rain down there around lunchtime today." Sorry, this video has expired Flooding beside the Bruce Highway Queensland Police Service Acting Chief Superintendent Steve Munro urged residents to be prepared for more rain over the coming days. "Where mother nature decides to drop that rain is very unpredictable, so we ask people to be mindful of possible flash flooding," he said. Further south, residents in low-lying areas of Giru have been urged to evacuate to higher ground after an emergency alert was issued for major flooding. The town has been isolated by the closure of the Bruce Highway. However food is still reaching the region, with Woolworths confirming its trucks have used inland routes to take regular loads from Charters Towers into Townsville and further north. The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting six hourly rainfall totals of up to 200 millimetres to continue. ( Supplied: Bea Webb Residents in low-lying areas have been advised to secure their belongings and move to higher ground where possible. The area around Paluma received 859mm over the past seven days and 365mm was recorded at Upper Bluewater, west of Townsville, since 9:00am on Wednesday. The Haughton River is expected to remain at major flood levels for the next few days. Upper Bluewater saw 300mm of rain in six hours yesterday. ( Facebook: Peter Drew By Thursday afternoon, a severe weather warning remained current for the southern end of the North Tropical Coast, as well as for the Herbert and Lower Burdekin. "We do expect to see a fresh burst of the monsoon. It reinvigorates and because of that we start to see enhanced rainfall again for these regions and it continues pretty much for the entire week … so heavy falls up north," BOM senior forecaster Lauren Pattie said. The water line on the house shows the flooding came up to the roof of the first floor. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn Bluewater State School, Giru State School, Rollingstone State School and Woodstock State School remained closed on Thursday. The Bluewater Community Centre at Forestry Road and the Alligator Creek Bowls Club have been opened as evacuation centres for residents who are concerned about flooding to their homes. People took to social media to thank their neighbours for helping in the emergency. ( Facebook: Rachael Emerson Bluewater resident Roger Goodwin said his backyard and downstairs area were destroyed after the force of the floodwater blew out a wall. "I was just aghast at the pace of the water and when it started to hit about 2 metres high the debris was hitting posts under the house," he said. Before and after water swept through Roger Goodwin's backyard. ( Supplied: Roger Goodwin "The noise was deafening at some points and it got scary — I saw the rescue helicopter and I thought I could be in that soon." Mr Goodwin's ute was also pushed up against his front stairs. Bluewater resident Roger Goodwin looks through the debris of his flooded-ravaged home. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn Ky Brennan, 10, stayed home from school to help clean up his home in Bluewater, which was destroyed by floodwater. "We had 24 chooks and they've died — we've got four left and our bird died and it's just a mess everywhere," he said. "[My bedroom] is a disaster — everything's destroyed — lots of things will need to be replaced." Ten-year-old Ky Brennan is home from school to try and help clean up his house at Bluewater. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn Bluewater resident Michael Nieminen was at home when floodwaters rose rapidly on Wednesday. "I was here watching it happen. It come up that quick you couldn't really do anything. I went to go start moving stuff from the shed but the water come up that fast, it was that strong, it was too late," he said. A land slip on Hervey Range road near Townsville. ( Twitter: Transport and Main Roads Queensland His entire shed was destroyed, including quadbikes and buggies he bought his children for Christmas. Mr Nieminen said he had lived in the area for five years and had never seen anything like it. "The rate it came up and the rate is was flowing, talking to other people that have lived here longer no one has seen anything like this, it took everyone by surprise," he said. Sorry, this video has expired Flooding in north Queensland Blackwater resident Michael Nieminen's shed was completely destroyed. ( Supplied: Michael Nieminen Roger Goodwin's home at Bluewater was inundated by water. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn Inside the flood-damaged house of Bluewater resident Roger Goodwin. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn As the water recedes the flood-damage kitchen of a house at Bluewater is revealed. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn The lounge and kitchen of a house at Bluewater was all but destroyed by the floodwater. ( ABC News: Allyson Horn<doc-sep>A man feared swept away in north Queensland has been found safe after he decided to stay with a friend for the night rather than enter the floodwater on his way home. All buses were cancelled and schools, childcare centres and courts closed in Townsville on Friday after the city was declared a disaster zone because of the "one-in-20-year" weather event, according to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Raging floodwaters in the Townsville suburb of Bluewater. Credit:Queensland Police Service Emergency services searched for hours on Thursday night for a man reported missing near Black Gully, 55 kilometres south-east of Townsville, and resumed on Friday morning before the news he was safe came through. Residents in low-lying parts of Townsville were told on Friday to flee to higher ground.<doc-sep>
A catastrophic emergency is unfolding in the northeastern Queensland coastal city of Townsville as residents brace for a weekend of record rainfall. The Bureau of Meteorology has warned Saturday could be the worst day of the monsoonal deluge, issuing a severe weather warning for extremely heavy rainfall and flash flooding to drench the already soaked Townsville region. Forecaster Micheal Grey warned Saturday could be the “most significant” day of the monsoon event. “Today is looking particularly important. We’re looking at significant rainfall,” he said, with up to 500mm already in the past 24 hours. Disaster-declared Townsville is at the epicentre of the one-in-100 year event where dozens of homes have been swamped, schools and businesses shut and thousands of residents evacuated to higher ground. The record rain and trough have forced the Ross River Dam levels to rise to historic levels, forcing the Townsville Council to order all three dam spillway gates opened, with a record amount of water is spilling into the sea. The council announced on Saturday morning that “there will be no further increases in the Ross River Dam spillway gates opening until after the high tide scheduled for 8.24am (Saturday local time)”. Mayor Jenny Hill said a team of experts were monitoring the high tide, rainfall predictions and outflows from the dam. Water releases will exceed what’s usually allowed under Townsville’s emergency action plan, but Councillor Hill said authorities had no choice with more days of torrential rain ahead. “What we’re trying to do is to get ahead of the system, so we reduce the risk of any further flooding in the city – but that’s not guaranteed,” she said. Ross River Dam is currently at 200.6% capacity (467,829 Megalitres). Latest reading at 9:00am on the 2nd of February. #Townsville — Ross River Dam (@RossRiverDam) February 2, 2019 Meanwhile, the army has been brought in to assist residents fill sandbags to protect their homes while the Queensland Fire and Emergency service is helping residents trapped by floodwaters to safety as water levels continue to rise throughout Saturday. Dozens of homes and businesses have been destroyed as flash floods washed through the streets of up to 12 suburban areas, sweeping away cars, equipment and livestock. A further 100 homes remain at risk as the dam continues to rise. Landslips like a ‘jet roaring’ Landslips have destabilised an apartment complex, blocked roads and caused homes to be evacuated. Wulguru local Kerry Guinea was tucked up in bed when a massive roar heralded a landslip that inundated his Townsville yard with tonnes of mud and rock. “It sounded like a jet roaring,” he told AAP. “I went out in the dark and there was mud everywhere, there’d be hundreds of tonnes, it’s huge.” “Bits of trees, log and goodness knows what have washed down.” “Our house is fine but it’s come through the bottom of the neighbour’s place and the houses next to that have rock and trees all around them.” #Townsville schools closed Friday due to flood alert https://t.co/HKzdvEpMCR — Incident Alerts (@Incident_Alerts) January 31, 2019 Bluewater Community Centre relief coordinator Darla Astill said about 100 flood-affected families dropped in on Friday and some have lost pretty much everything. “People have had to just sit and watch cars, tractors, containers, ride-ons and all sorts of stuff just floating in the creek,” she told AAP. “There’s not much you can do, it’s still raining, we’ve got more rain predicted so we’re just sandbagging here at the moment if it does rain again.” “There’s been a couple of dogs floating by, people tried to rescue them, there was also a cow that got pulled out and survived but one the dogs they couldn’t get to.” Further north, coastal communities on the Gulf of Carpentaria have been told to prepare for the highest tides of year as the monsoon trough whips up gale force winds. Flood Warnings are current for the following catchments: Mulgrave, Russell, Tully, Murray, Herbert, Ross, Bohle, Haughton, Burdekin, Don, Isaac, Leichhardt, Nicholson, Gregory, Flinders, Cloncurry and Diamantina Rivers. -with AAP