Share and Follow
This morning, the river surged to a moderate flood stage of 16.75 meters, with predictions to hit a major flood height of 17.5 meters by afternoon, nearing the levels seen in March 2000, according to reports from the Bureau of Meteorology.
Due to the rising waters, Katherine Hospital has been evacuated, and patients have been relocated to medical facilities in Darwin.
The Bureau has cautioned that additional rainfall anticipated on Friday could lead to further increases in river levels.
The weather system is projected to continue its westward movement, prompting a major flood alert for the Daly River and broader warnings across much of the Top End towards the Western Australia boundary.
Meanwhile, a separate tropical low positioned off Cairns is expected to make landfall on the Queensland coast this afternoon, having already delivered over 400mm of rain to the Daintree River and 200mm to Cooktown.
Millions are prepared for a wet weekend as the system, while now unlikely to become a tropical cyclone, is expected to bring heavy rain as it tracks inland and south, reaching Brisbane and the south-east coast by Sunday.
“Once the low crosses the coast today, it will move further towards the west and gradually turn and move towards the south over the weekend, but as it does, it’ll also start to draw in a lot of tropical moisture, and that’s with the surface trough which is lying over inland eastern parts of Queensland,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Jonathon How said.
“This will bring increased showers and rain to most northern, central and eastern districts.”
River catchments across northern Queensland are saturated and further flood warnings could be issued, he warned.
The bureau has issued a warning for heavy to locally intense rainfall that extends from north of Tully, north towards North Cook down to Cape Melville and inland, taking in Cairns, Port Douglas, Daintree, Cooktown, and the Atherton Tablelands.
That area is being warned of six-hourly rainfall totals between 80 and 240mm and 24-hour totals of 300mm.
The rain is expected to spread south to Townsville and then Mackay, before hitting the Wide Bay and Darling Downs tomorrow as well as Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast by Sunday.
“On Saturday, we’ll see a few showers, but they will mostly build towards the late evening and Sunday will be the wettest day across southeast Queensland,” How said.
“There is increasing confidence that we could see moderate rainfall totals in the range of 50 to 100 across south-east Queensland, including Brisbane on the Sunday, and we could also see higher isolated falls.”
Brisbane can also expect slightly cooler temperatures with a top of 26 degrees over the weekend.
NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.