Townsville flooding: boats, helicopters and garbage trucks used in rescues – as it happened

• Thousands of homes at risk as Townsville braces for ‘once-in-a-century’ flood. This blog is now closed

• Australian authorities deliberately flood 2,000 Queensland homes after record downpours
• The worst of conditions happened overnight after the Ross River dam’s floodgates were opened, sending 1,900 cubic metres of water gushing into the already inundated town.
• We learned that authorities received more than 1,000 calls for help, while there were also 18 swift-water rescues.
• About 16,000 homes were without power.
• Officials faced some criticism for choosing not to impose a forced evacuation. They said they had provided sufficient warnings to residents, who had to take some personal responsibility for their welfare.
• Today, authorities have been using boats, helicopters and, in some cases, garbage trucks, to rescue hundreds of Townsville residents.
• The rain has eased in Townsville now, but a monsoon trough remains over the region, with more heavy rain expected.
• At 5.30pm, the Bureau of Meteorology said there had been up to 268mm of rain over the past 24 hours in parts of Townsville. But since 9am, there had been only 10mm-20mm.
• On Tuesday, between 55-70 mm of rain is forecast.

4 February 2019

Luke Henriques-Gomes