Babinda slips on Boot
JOHN ANDERSEN BABINDA has once again taken out North Queensland’s Golden Gumboot Award for 2016.
Doug Fraser from the Townsville office of the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed yesterday that Babinda had pipped archrival Tully at the post with 3590mm of rain for the year. It was a close shave with Tully coming in with 3426mm, just 164mm shy of Babinda.
Babinda rainfall analyst Allan Kingston, 85, said he was pleased the town had won, but was surprised, considering it was a dry year.
“This is one of the driest years I’ve known. My friend has some land down the road and he tells me that he has to fix his fences two or three times a year because they get washed away. In 2016, he didn’t have to fix them once,” he said.
Mr Kingston said Tully had beaten Babinda once in the rainfall stakes and that was in 1945.
Dot Newman of the Babinda Post Office said she was surprised the town had won because it had not been a particularly wet year.
“I love the rain. I’ll admit that, but we only had five days of rain in December. It’s been very sparse,” she said.
Mr Fraser said Babinda’s mean average rainfall was 4267mm. This year it was 737mm under the average.
Bellenden Ker, near Babinda, which is Queensland’s sec- ond highest peak at 1593m, recorded 6011mm for the year.
The Atherton Tableland community of Topaz, which has won the boot in the past, was well down this year with 2759mm. In 1999, Topaz recorded seven metres of rain or 7019mm.
Mr Fraser said figures of interest included Happy Valley near Babinda with 3340mm and Innisfail with 2934.
Jason Puckwell at Tully’s Feluga Hotel, a popular water- ing hole for white water rafters returning to Cairns, said that despite the lower than normal rainfall, the Tully River rapids were still pumping.
“They’re happy, the rafters. They’re all getting their adrenaline rush, “he said.
Mr Kingston said the top of Queensland’s highest mountain, Mt Bartle Frere, had the highest unofficial recording single fall of rain. He said the 1611m high mountain received 660mm in 24 hours.