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.
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 Tuesday 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.
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