Drew Casper-Richardson, 05 Feb 2016, 11:02 PM UTC
Heavy rain hammers QLD's Central Coast
A deep low pressure trough has brought heavy rain and storms to
central parts of the Queensland coast.
On Friday afternoon a deepening low pressure trough combined with
a moisture laden tropical airmass to set off storms and areas of
heavy rain. For some areas, rain and storms persisted through the
night and into Saturday morning.
Some of the heaviest rain was offshore however those along the
coast and adjacent ranges felt the brunt of the system as well.
The highest recorded total was just south of Mackay where 246mm
was recorded at Sucrogen Weir. There were also heavy falls around
Mackay and inland. Mackay itself picked up 108mm including 13.6mm
in just ten minutes. Falls were higher inland of Mackay with most
areas picking up between 100m-150mm. Moranbah Airport recorded
169mm with a huge 17.2mm falling in ten minutes, which is more
than enough to cause localised flash flooding.
Proserpine had their highest daily rainfall total since April 2014
and their highest February total in four years with 143mm reaching
the gauge. This included 16.4mm in ten minutes as a storm moved
over during Friday evening.
Showers and storms had mostly cleared by mid-morning on Saturday
however a Severe Weather Warning remained in place. Heavy rain and
storms could redevelop on Saturday afternoon and evening,
potentially bringing similar totals to the Central Coast, northern
parts of the Capricornia and eastern parts of the Central
Highlands & Coalfields.
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