As ex-cyclone drenches north, thunderstorm risk reaches Brisbane
Communities are bracing for “life-threatening flash flooding” as the remnants of Koji move inland, while the weather bureau issues a warning for the south-east.
Communities are bracing for “life-threatening flash flooding” as the remnants of ex-cyclone Koji move westward across Queensland’s north, threatening regions still recovering from record rain in the new year.
Koji was declared a cyclone on Saturday evening, and had been expected to cross the coast as a category 2 storm.
In the early hours of Sunday it was downgraded to category 1, then weakened below tropical cyclone intensity as it crossed the coast between Ayr and Bowen about 10am.
Early on Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology issued warnings for intense rainfall and flash flooding in inland regions between Mackay and Gladstone.
Meteorologist Christie Johnson said the state’s south-east would probably receive scattered thunderstorms, which would centre on the Sunshine Coast hinterland region and travel south through the week.
“That risk of severe thunderstorms [on Tuesday] extends down to Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and maybe even into the Northern Rivers in New South Wales and into parts of the Darling Downs as well,” she said.
The weather bureau said flash flooding posed the biggest risk.Credit: Nine News
About six rivers in Central and North Queensland were expected to flood in coming days, including the Connors and Isaac rivers, which the weather bureau predicted would exceed flood levels experienced during ex-tropical cyclone Oswald.
Johnson said the main concern was flash flooding, rather than swollen rivers, and the storm moving west across the week, which would bring rain to areas still recovering from flooding.
“It’ll make its way into the Northern Territory, and potentially, if it even manages to keep itself intact, it might reach as far as the Kimberley,” she said.
“We’ve got a sort of 10 per cent to 15 per cent chance that if it does reach the waters off the north coast of Western Australia, it could actually redevelop into a cyclone.”
Heavy rain and high wind lashes North Queensland as the remnants of the former cyclone Koji hammer the coast.Credit: Nine News
