About 1,400 homes without power as ex-Tropical Cyclone Imogen brings heavy falls to far north Queensland

More than 260mm of rain has fallen in a far north Queensland town as a tropical cyclone system weakens to a tropical low with more heavy rain to come.

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Imogen brought heavy flooding to Gulf Development Road in far north Queensland.

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Imogen brought heavy flooding to Gulf Development Road in far north Queensland. Source: Twitter / Transport and Main Roads Queensland

Widespread flooding rain is expected over far north Queensland for days after a tropical cyclone made landfall late on Sunday.

Tropical Cyclone Imogen crossed the coast north of Karumba shortly before 11pm before slowly weakening to a tropical low on Monday.
About 1,400 houses were left without power, but there were no reports of injuries, Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said.

"It would appear at this stage there is no massive damage either, but there is a lot of water," she told reporters on Monday.

The system dumped 262mm of rain in Normanton, with 186mm of that falling in six hours up until 3am on Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology's Pieter Claassen told AAP.
The town also recorded wind gusts up to 100km/h overnight.

As the system weakened to a tropical low, wind gusts up to 85km/h were still being experienced.

Mr Claassen said about 60mm of rain had fallen in Cairns and Innisfail in just a few hours on Monday as the system moved southeast.

There is plenty more to come, with up to 300mm of rain possible in some isolated areas, while up to 200mm in six hours is likely in coastal areas as far as Townsville.
Severe thunderstorms are also forecast for northern Queensland and the southeastern interior of the state on Monday.

On the southeast coast the chance of showers and thunderstorms increases from mid-week, with showers expected until the end of the week.


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Published 4 January 2021 6:06pm
Updated 4 January 2021 6:28pm
Source: AAP, SBS


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