00:01North Queensland has been copping a drenching overnight with the garrison city of Townsville
00:06seeing the best of it. Gauges in the north have been seeing in the 24 hours to 9 o'clock
00:12this
00:12morning well into the 100 millimetres of rain and above. Some gauges recording almost 100 millimetres
00:19in an hour last night. Apart from the dozen or so flood watches active across North Queensland
00:24river catchments right now. Thunderstorm warnings have also been coming in thick and fast for the
00:29Townsville area. The usual warnings apply. Stay inside, don't travel, stay away from trees,
00:35close doors and windows and keep an eye on family, neighbours and pets. This is a small problem for
00:42the Hinchinbrook town of Ingham which tonight plays host to the artist's tones and I. The Bruce Highway
00:47at this time is currently open but that could change at any moment with rain over this end of the
00:53world.
00:53The bomb forecasts a 90% chance of up to 50 millimetres of rain over Ingham today,
00:58chance of a severe thunderstorm this afternoon. So very sticky. As you can see behind me over Cairns
01:04Harbour, it's very still. There's all but a zephyr of wind today and you could cut the humidity with
01:11a cane knife. It's hard to keep on top of the gardening with all the rain we've been having
01:16and people are doing their best to get all the gardening done and get all the green waste away
01:20but you walk out the door and the humidity hits you like a wall at the moment. And this is
01:25because
01:25a broad trough system is lingering across parts of western and northern Queensland maintaining deep
01:32tropical moisture enhancing shower and storm activity across the region. So the rainfall focus
01:40will contract to far north Queensland during this weekend. Moderate to local heavy falls are possible,
01:46highest totals close to the coast and ranges. Catchments are already wet, rapid river level
01:52rises, flash flooding are possible in areas that already received the heaviest rainfall. So the
01:58situation is being monitored very closely by the authorities and they're reminding people not to
02:02travel unless they absolutely have to. There's already been several swift water rescues, isolated
02:08motorist rescues, people trying to drive through flood waters, cross flooded roads when they really
02:14shouldn't be. The usual warnings apply from the authorities. They're asking people not to travel,
02:19not to make emergency services get out unless they absolutely have to and take services away from
02:25people who may need them more. So the it's looking to be a very wet weekend. The dams have already
02:30almost full or full. The operators have been spilling dams across the north Queensland region already to
02:37get ahead of further rain that is forecast for the north Queensland area.
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