'Mini-tornado' smashes Townsville homesUpdated March 20, 2012 08:57:05
PHOTO: Debris is strewn across Lillypilly Street in Townsville this morning. (Twitter)
RELATED STORY: Torrential rain drenches north Qld
MAP: Vincent 4814
Buildings collapsed and roofs were torn from houses as a "mini-tornado" tore through Townsville and heavy rain and strong winds caused chaos across north Queensland this morning.
The worst damage in Townsville is reportedly concentrated in an area of about one-kilometre radius, taking in parts of the suburbs of Vincent, Pimlico and Gulliver.
"There are very distressing early reports of a very bad storm in Townsville about 5:00am this morning," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said in Cairns this morning.
"It appears to be something akin to a mini-tornado, it's taken roofs off houses and there is a lot of vegetation down and it's caused enormous damage.
"We are trying to get an emergency services helicopter into the air so that we can assess just how bad this is.
"The suburbs that have been affected in about a one-kilometre radius are areas of Vincent, Pimlico and Gulliver.
"These are very heavily populated areas of the city of Townsville, so there's no doubt there's a lot of people that have had a very scary experience this morning."
Residents are being urged to stay indoors as a number of power lines have been downed.
More to come on this soon.
Emergency crews carried out dramatic swift water rescues across north Queensland overnight, with more than a dozen people being stranded in floodwaters.
Heavy downpours have caused major flooding in Cairns, Innisfail, Ingham, Townsville and Mackay.
Rivers are swollen and scores of roads and major highways have been cut by flash flooding.
A swift water rescue team ferried a woman in premature labour across two flooded creeks at Ravenswood so she could get to Townsville hospital.
She is in hospital in a stable condition.
Another woman needed help when she had to cross a flooded creek after being bitten by a snake at Mount Fox near Ingham.
She is in a stable condition at the Ingham Hospital.
A helicopter rescue crew also rescued a man who had been stranded in the back of a ute south of Cairns since early this morning.
In another incident, District Police Inspector Bob Waters says 11 people were rescued when their cars got caught between two flooded causeways at Little Mulgrave near Gordonvale, south of Cairns.
He says several swift water rescue teams had to be called in to ferry the group to safety.
"Our main message in the Cairns area is not to travel on our roads unless it is an extraordinary emergency," he said.
"The heavy rain is going to continue and so we would ask people to stay at home and take care of their property.
"The Cairns area has been subject to really heavy monsoonal rain which has resulted in very fast flooding around the Cairns area generally.
"Police have been inundated with calls for assistance in terms of road closures and vehicles driven into wet areas."
Monsoon trough
The weather bureau says there is a deep tropical low and a monsoon trough generating the inclement weather.
There have been falls of more than 300 millimetres in Townsville since 9:00am (AEST) yesterday.
Bureau spokesman Jonty Hall says the heaviest falls have been south of Cairns.
"Mission Beach is leading the way at the moment sitting on about 308 millimetres and a little further south Paluma with 274, and lots of other sort of 200-plus rainfall totals at this stage," he said.
"Just right now we're seeing some pretty heavy stuff feeding into the Townsville area as well."
'Common sense'
The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service (QFRS) is urging people to use common sense when driving in areas that may be affected by flooding.
QFRS spokesman Russell Collier says it does not take much for a car to be swept off a road.
"Because the water can be flowing quite quickly, it doesn't take a great deal of fast-flowing water to dislodge a vehicle and then basically sweep it away to an area that may be even deeper than the roadway you're trying to cross," he said.
"Once again it's extremely important that you don't enter floodwaters, regardless of the depth, because it is extremely dangerous."
He says parents also need to stop children from swimming or playing in floodwaters.
"There's so many hidden dangers in floodwaters, whether it be swift-flowing water that no-one's aware of, drainage systems, which can take you many many kilometres away from that area and other things such as flood debris or logs which have floated down to those particular areas," he said.
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November 08, 2016, 09:38:24 AM