Tropical cyclone to make landfall within hours
Tropical Cyclone Koji was downgraded to a category 1 system overnight but is still expected to bring damaging winds and heavy rainfall to North Queensland from today.
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- Queensland
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North Queensland residents remain on high alert after ex-Tropical Cyclone Koji made landfall on Sunday morning, with heavy rain, strong winds and flash flooding continuing to batter towns across the region.
Koji was declared a cyclone on Saturday evening and had been expected to cross as a category 2 storm.
It was downgraded to category 1 in the early hours of Sunday, and weakened below tropical cyclone intensity as it crossed the coast between Ayr and Bowen about 10am.
While warnings were cancelled for Townsville and areas further south, including Bowen and Proserpine, strong winds with gusts up to 100km/h were recorded over the Whitsunday Islands, and heavy rainfall leading to flash flooding pummelled parts of the region.
The Bureau of Meteorology said that since 9am on Saturday, there had been more than 300 millimetres of rain around the Clarke Range area, with the Mattie ONeill Bridge over Cattle Creek west of Mackay reporting the highest total of 370 millimetres.
Other regions between Bowen and Mackay recorded 250-350 millimetres of rain.
Significant flooding has been reported in the north-west parts of the state, with a flood watch in place from Ayr down to the Wide Bay region.
Severe weather warnings remain current for areas between Rockhampton and Ayr.
Heavy rainfall, flash flooding and damaging winds will persist through Sunday over southern parts of the Herbert and Lower Burdekin, the Central Coast, the Whitsundays, and the Capricornia region.
The heavy rain is expected to continue into Monday, prompting authorities to urge residents to stay up to date with official alerts and warnings.
A woman and her two children entered floodwaters in a vehicle at Bogie, a township west of Bowen, on Sunday morning, after following directions from Google Maps.
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“This was a person who came upon a road-closed area, entered details in Google Maps [and was then directed] down a side road, which was unfortunately flooded,” said Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Chris Stream.
“Luckily, [they] … were able to self extract and walk to a nearby homestead, whereby they were able to receive assistance.”
Premier David Crisafulli said on Sunday afternoon that it was a reminder for people to listen to “locals on the ground” in times of disaster.
“We’ll give the information as soon as we have it, and I just do ask if people can use that single point of truth, which is the disaster Queensland website,” he said.
The weather bureau said the system may drift across north-west Queensland for several days as a low, with tropical moisture drawn south from today.