It may no longer be a cyclone, but the tropical low that was Severe Tropical Cyclone Owen is delivering rain worthy of its former self.

Owen finally crossed the southeast Gulf coast on Saturday after meandering over the very warm waters of the Gulf of Carpenteria for the best part of five days. The huge amount of moisture absorbed by the system has been returned to the surface as heavy rain, with some parts of northern Queensland receiving 5-7 times their monthly average rainfall in 24 hours.

So far the Herbert and Lower Burdekin district is leading the rainfall race. A rain gauge at Halifax recorded 681mm in the 24 hours to 9am Sunday. To put that in perspective, the average rainfall for the month of December at the closest weather station, Lucinda Point, is 94mm. That weather station alone recorded 390mm, and another gauge at the Lucinda PO caught 500mm. Ingham was just behind at 485mm. Townsville Airport caught 118mm, its wettest December day in nine years.

Although not on the scale of Herbert and Lower Burdekin, the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands also recorded some very healthy falls, with widespread falls of 100-250mm. Innisfail collected 195mm to 9am Sunday, its heaviest December rain in 11 years.

The rain is set to continue as the remnants of Severe Tropical Cyclone Owen hangs around the coast of northeastern Queensland. Severe weather warnings for heavy rain and damaging winds are current for much of the region, as well as riverine flooding warnings. Models are a bit indecisive of where the low will go over the coming days, however, it is likely to continue delivering massive amounts of rain to many areas of eastern Queensland.