WASHED OUT
DEERAGUN COP S BRUNT OF HUGE DOWNPOUR
DEERAGUN resident Daniel Hanran ( pictured) was cleaning up yesterday after his home was flooded in a huge downpour on Saturday.
The suburb had more than 200mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday with the bulk of it falling on Saturday afternoon.
The deluge saw several Deeragun streets covered with water which entered some homes.
Residents blamed the flooding on the impact of new housing developments in the area.
Other areas to cop the brunt of Saturday’s storm included Little Bohle River ( 178mm), Mount Margaret ( 162mm) and Kirwan ( 108mm). Ross River Dam had 99mm and was climbing above 18 per cent capacity yesterday.
At Crystal Creek on Saturday, a woman was rescued after slipping, hitting her head on a rock and going under the water.
A group of people at the swimming hole pulled the woman from the water and revived her before emergency services arrived.
HOMES in the northern suburbs of Townsville became unwanted riverfront properties over the weekend with streets and some houses inundated with water following Saturday’s deluge.
Deeragun residents Daniel and Lindle Hanran were in the city celebrating their birthdays as water rose around their Laura Court home.
“I had a mate that came down and took a photo,” Mr Hanran said.
“It was all under water and everything was just flowing straight out through here through the carport.”
After checking into a hotel at 3pm, the Hanrans were racing back to their Deeragun home to salvage what they could by 6pm.
“We knew it was too late,” Mr Hanran said.
“Everything was floating when we came home because we had been in town. We were walking in ( thigh- high water) down the middle of the street to get home.”
The Hanrans were yesterday cleaning up in the aftermath of several centimetres of water throughout their house.
“I was supposed to go back to work tomorrow but I won’t be driving back to work in Byerwen, out past Collinsville.
“Everything is damaged: everything in the lounge room, everything got done. We just lost lots of stuff.”
Next door, Laurie and Robyn Brown blamed new housing developments for causing the street to flood.
“They ( Townsville City Council) allowed this to happen,” Mr Brown said.
“The manhole covers, they all popped, the water’s come out of there and come gushing down here, and then it’s all just met.”
“We’ve had 210mm of rain here in three days; I should not be getting flooded from someone 20km a way.”
His wife, Robyn, said there were “fountains” in nearby Hank St.
She praised rescue services for their help.
“All the SES did a fantastic job,” Mrs Brown said.
Deputy Mayor Les Walker said council officers responded to the Deeragun flooding on Saturday.
“There were a small amount of houses that were affected Saturday night,” Mr Walker said.
“The team responded appropriately and the Mayor ( Jenny Hill) was on the ground with local disaster members, and it was a great response from the team.”
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Lauren Pattie said showers and storms were expected to continue this week.
“Expect to see that pattern continue early this week,” Ms Pattie said.
She said an upper trough sitting above Townsville could bring isolated heavy falls and potential storm activity to parts of the city.
“We won’t see falls quite as widespread; isolated pockets and heavy falls over the coming days,” Ms Pattie said.
A southerly surge moving along the coast could help reenhance shower and storm activity by the end of the week.
“Some of the modelling shows that surge but there’s a lot of uncertainty in how strong it will be, and the timing of it,” she said.
The surge could potentially form into a low.
“It is the southerly winds and northeasterly winds that can make a bit of a low; it depends on that surge.
“Southerly winds are expected to get to the Townsville coast from Thursday ... we will start watching for that surge moving along the coast.”