Townsville inundated with intense rainfall, as BoM forecasts severe weather warning for north east coast

The intense rainfall was caused by a ridge extending over the southeast and extending from a high in the Tasman Sea, which is drawing torrential rain to north and central west Queensland.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is forecasting the trough and convergent area will move north from Friday and weaken by the weekend.

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Heavy rainfall inundated parts of Townsville overnight, with the Queensland State Emergency Services responding to several water rescues and call outs.

The highest total so far was 381mm at Stony Creek from 9am Wed until 9am Thursday.

Townsville City Council Mayor Jenny Hill said the region was on alert for more significant rain in the next 24 hours.

"Over the last two days, we've seen significant rainfall hear in Townsville, predominantly along our coastal belt," Ms Hill said.

"We've had falls in excess of 300mm in certain areas and overall we've had some areas with rainfall between 200 to over 400mm over the last two days.

"Last night, we had a number of roads that were close that it seems reopen and today the Bureau is is saying that the Bohle River catchment is at a minor flood warning, however, that could change later today, as we're expected to see further significant falls in this region within the next 24 hours."

Ms Hill has a called on the community to be mindful of their movements over the next few days.

"Our roads are holding up but we are starting to see some failures in certain areas, so when you're driving please be careful," she said.

"We do have sand bagging facilities available to the community and both locations are available on our Disaster Management website."

A spokesperson for Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) said the SES responded to 30 requests for assistance across Townsville.

"The call outs were all heavy rain related tasks like sandbagging and leaky roofs and providing tarps," the spokesperson said.

"In regards to swift water rescues, we were called to a couple of water rescue related jobs.

"However, only one rescue involved a swift water rescue boat and that was at Deeragun. Two people were found in floodwater in two separate cars.

"They were retrieved within a couple of minutes of us arriving."

BoM has issued a severe weather warning for the regions of Herbert, Lower Burdekin and parts of North Tropical Coast and Tablelands.

A local area of converging winds associated with the monsoon trough is currently located over coastal areas of the northeast tropical coast.

This system is forecast to remain slow-moving Thursday night, whilst shifting north on Friday.

BoM is forecasting heavy rainfall and possible flash flooding for coastal communities and islands between Cardwell to Bowen.

Six-hourly rainfall totals between 140 and 180 mm are likely within the warning area with higher falls possible locally.

Locations which may be affected include Townsville, Palm Island, Ingham, Ayr, Bowen, Giru and Lucinda.

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