The 1998 Townsville and Thuringowa city floods
began on 10 January 1998, the cities of
Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
and
Thuringowa
Thuringowa Central is a suburb of Townsville in the City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. In the Thuringowa Central had a population of 2,023 people.
Geography
Shaped like an inverted letter "T", Thuringowa Central consists of residen ...
were hit by one of the worst
floods
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...
in the cities' history.
Floods
What was a remnant of Ex-Cyclone Sid in the Coral Sea near Cardwell had produced a band of strong
gale
A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).CBD and hundreds of businesses and homes were inundated in both Townsville and Thuringowa, plus around 200 people had to be evacuated.
Black River was badly hit with 48 homes being uninhabitable, 14 homes destroyed and 8 being washed out to sea when the river broke its banks and at Bluewater 40 homes were badly damaged, while 5 other homes in the city had been destroyed plus 100's flooded, phones were out in most parts the city and fallen power lines and flooded substations cut power to around 50% of homes. A landslide, estimated to be 20,000 cubic meters destroyed 12 and damaged 6 units on a Magnetic Island resort and another landslide destroyed a million dollar home on Stanton Terrace and boulders were also loosened on Castle Hill and rolled down into Stuart Street in the CBD. Townsville was declared a state of emergency that night.
Rain had eased a little by the 11th but still had some heavy rain pass through, Ex-Cyclone Sid, a weak surface low was still just to the north of Townsville during Monday 12 January and by midday the trough had redeveloped again and heavy rain moved into the city for the rest of the day.
With many businesses closed due to the weekend damage, the new lot of rain caused a complete shutdown of the city and many workers battled renewed floodwaters trying to get home, even emergency workers had to abandon cleanup work for the rest of the day. On the 10 and 11 January, Townsville airport recorded 549mm in 24 hours and from the 11th and 12th through to the 9am the 13th 245mm fell, giving a 3-day record of 794mm. The period of the 10th to the 11th has since been dubbed the 'Night of Noah' by Townsville residents. Other areas around the city had readings of 895mm up to 1300mm.
Aftermath
The morning of the 11th has been described as the worst devastation in the city since
Cyclone Althea
Severe Tropical Cyclone Althea was a powerful tropical cyclone that devastated parts of North Queensland just before Christmas 1971. One of the strongest storms ever to affect the Townsville area, Althea was the fourth system and second severe ...
in 1971. Most roads in the city were impassable; the Bruce Highway was closed to the north and south of the city as were all rail links as at the time they were still under water; the airport was closed to all commercial traffic as the runway was under water, and the navigation aids still out of order, electricity was off in most of the city and water was also off in the northern suburbs of Thuringowa, all sewage pumping stations were inoperable (one was underwater), Queensland Nickel's
tailings dam
A tailings dam is typically an earth-fill embankment dam used to store byproducts of mining operations after separating the ore from the gangue. Tailings can be liquid, solid, or a slurry of fine particles, and are usually highly toxic and potent ...
at the Yabulu nickel refinery had overflowed spilling the pollutants into the nearby flooded river and out to the sea, one resident found two cars and a yacht in his yard, and sadly one person was confirmed dead, after being washed off a flooded road in his car.
The total damage bill was in excess of $100million.