Outback battered by ‘monsoon’
An “active monsoon” battering large swathes of Australia’s north has dumped as much as 200mm of rain and raised fears of flooding, with more wild weather on the way.
The monsoon trough extending from the Northern Territory to Queensland’s Torres Strait is expected to continue to develop on Tuesday as rivers swell from heavy rains.
Minor flooding was reported at Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia’s remote Kimberley on Tuesday after a whopping 200mm of rain fell there from 9am on Monday.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Patch Clapp said more heavy rain was “on the cards” across the north into midweek, especially inland regions of Western Australia and the NT.
“Inland parts of the Top End are looking like they could be getting some heavy rain, through to parts of the Kimberley,” he said.
“We’re probably looking at a wet week ahead broadly across the northern parts of the country.
“We’re also seeing storm activity extend down the eastern parts of Western Australia and into some pretty sparsely populated areas.”
Mr Clapp said the March deluge was not unusual for the state’s tropical north, with the bureau issuing a slew of flood warnings for large swathes of the Top End.
Flood warnings were in place for at least five rivers each across WA and the Northern Territory on Monday and a further 12 in northern Queensland.
Milder conditions are forecast for most of the country’s south and southeast for the rest of the week, with Sydney to reach a high of 31C on Thursday.
Melbourne will meanwhile reach just 29C towards the end of the week following showers forecast for the city through Wednesday and Thursday.
Elsewhere, Adelaide is forecast to reach 33C during the week, while Canberra and Brisbane are forecast to hit 29C and 31C respectively by the weekend.
