A one-in-100 year monsoonal deluge that's flooded parts of north Queensland is forecast to continue dumping rain throughout the weekend.
WHY IS THE NORTH QUEENSLAND FLOOD UNUSUAL?
* Because of the prolonged nature of the daily rains.
* Some locations have recorded a metre of rainfall in three days.
* The weather bureau is expecting high daily rainfall totals of up to 400mm per day in some places for a number of days.
WHAT'S HAPPENED?
* The monsoon trough began dumping torrential rain over the Cape York Peninsula seven days ago before moving south.
* By Saturday, the Daintree River was in flood, breaking a 118-year floodwater record and cutting off residents.
* The weather system continued moving south and by Wednesday Bluewater, north of Townsville, had gone under.
* By Friday, flash flooding had forced people in and around Townsville from their homes and inundated at least 50 homes.
* Three landslips have destabilised an apartment complex, blocked roads and caused homes to be evacuated
* There have been about 30 rescues, including people caught in flash flooding and trapped on roofs.
* Townsville's Ross River Dam was at 183 per cent of its capacity at 4:00pm on Friday despite a flood gate being opened days ago.
* Up to100 homes were evacuated following a decision to release more water from the dam.
WILL IT EVER END?
* It is likely to continue into next week with heavy falls possible early next week, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
* Whether the floods linger will depend on the catchment, some go down quickly, others take days or weeks to reduce.
WHERE IS THE FOCUS IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS?
* The Ross, the Bohle and the Haughton catchments.
* But there are number of other catchments in major flood, including the Murray, Flinders and Cloncurry further west.
WHAT IS THE DANGER?
* Flash flooding, landslips, wildlife.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
* Stay home, don't go into flood water. Help your neighbours.
* Red Cross has opened a website to help affected families connect: register.redcross.org.au/
Source: BOM: QEFS.
