By Jeremy Sollars
The Condamine River in Warwick is now falling after the significant rain over the past 48 hours.
The river peaked at 6.20 metres at around 7.30am today, Friday 31 March ahead of initial fears the O.O. Madsen Bridge would need to be closed.
However, the Local Disaster Management Group which met at the Warwick council offices at 10am was satisfied the river had peaked and the bridge closure was not necessary.
Moderate flooding is still occurring throughout the Condamine River catchment and associated creek catchments, with the river expected to fall below the minor flood level of five metres later this afternoon.
Many roads remain closed around the region – for the latest updates visit the council website at www.sdrc.qld.gov.au
Tomorrow’s Warwick RSL Memorial Club Race Day at Warwick’s Allman Park Racecourse has been postponed due to the wet conditions and a new date will be set.
Killarney’s main street businesses were fortunately spared damage today as the Condamine rose, with water in the main street but not high enough to reach business premises.
Kay Hancock of the Killarney Newsagency told the Free Times the clean-up was now underway locally but things were basically “back to normal”, saying the situation had “not been as drastic” as had been feared.
Rosemary Peterson of Oaklea Cottages at The Head, above Killarney, recorded 210mm up until this morning, while Gordon Country at Goomburra recorded around 150mm.
Some Killarney locals have been concerned at the lack of deployment of the town’s Flood Emergency Warning Systems sirens which the Free Times understands failed to activate as the Condamine began to rise.
Mayor Tracy Dobie has said warning systems installed at Killarney and Leyburn are “part of council’s long-term strategy to make communities as safe as possible from flood events, but in the first instance personal contact with potentially affected residents is the preferred approach”.
“Council understands that there has been some criticism that the siren in Killarney was not activated yesterday; however the sirens are a second line of defence,” Cr Dobie said in a statement released this afternoon.
“Council and the Local Disaster Management Group had foreshadowed the flood event and action had already been undertaken yesterday morning to alert those likely to be impacted in Killarney.
“The Bureau of Meteorology had provided some monitoring around the predicted flood. So, the siren was not required as Council was able to plan and implement a pro-active approach of door knocking affected residents, and this was undertaken by SES personnel.”
The forecast for Warwick and Stanthorpe for the weekend is for partly cloudy conditions, with tops of 26 and 24 for Warwick for Saturday and Sunday, and 23 for Stanthorpe both days.
Leslie Dam west of Warwick is at 18.61 per cent of capacity as of Friday afternoon, with 19,772ML.
Official Bureau of Meteorology rainfalls around the region, for the 24 hours to 9am Friday:
- The Head – 141mm
- Killarney – 85mm
- Yangan – 81mm
- Stanthorpe – 58mm
- Warwick – 65mm
- Goomburra – 72mm
- Maryvale – 78mm
- Leslie Dam – 44mm
- Connolly Dam – 48mm
- Pratten – 48mm
- Allora – 59mm
- Glenlyon Dam – 20mm
- Texas – 27mm
- Inglewood – 35mm
