Sandbags offered for rain-soaked Christmas
MANUNDA man James Sands is the kind of bloke who would “fish in a bucket” and the torrential downpour forecast for the Far North isn’t going to stop him wetting a line.
Yesterday, Mr Sands braved poor conditions to chase a feed on the Esplanade and, while he only caught a single undersized fish, he said he would head out again in the coming days.
“I know it’s coming down but I’ve got an umbrella so I’ll give it another go,” he said.
“I had a heart attack four weeks ago ... so I decided to relax. My wife’s been walking on the Esplanade most days of the week and she told me there were lots of fish there so I thought it would be better than sitting at home.”
While Mr Sands isn’t planning on letting the weather stop him getting outside, it might force a few families to hold Christmas Day barbecues undercover.
Cairns Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Robin Nataniela said there was no sunshine in sight for the Far North.
“The rain’s going to continue right through the next three days at least,” he said yesterday afternoon.
“We have a monsoon flow which has been continuing for the past 24 hours at least.”
Maximum falls of between 25mm and 50mm each day for the next five days have been predicted by the BOM, and Mr Nataniela said isolated pockets of very heavy falls were also possible.
To give residents the chance to protect their properties, Cairns Regional Council will today offer free sandbags.
Acting Mayor and Local Disaster Management Group chairman Terry James said the move was meant as a precaution.
“The amount of rain forecast over the next few days would not normally be a trigger for sandbagging, but we know this is an incredibly busy time of year with a number of people going away on holiday and looking to prepare their homes and businesses,” he said.
“Residents, especially those in low-lying areas, are welcome to get some sandbags from our waste transfer stations for their own peace of mind and preparation.”
Sandbags can be picked up from Portsmith Transfer Station, Smithfield Transfer Station and Gordonvale Transfer Station today between 8.30am and 5.15pm.
Mr Nataniela said areas with the highest rainfall totals in the Far North in the 24 hours to 3pm yesterday were to Cairns’ north and south.
The bureau’s Myola and Saddle Mountain alerts, both near Kuranda, recorded 192mm and 187mm respectively.
Babinda, meanwhile, earned its reputation as one of the wettest towns in the country with 107mm in the same period.
Mr Nataniela said there was still potential for the low in the Northern Territory to develop into a cyclone, but at this stage it wasn’t influencing the weather in Cairns.