Oh dear...

Rain intensity is off the scale
Rainfall figures collated from last Friday’s flooding rains have revealed the enormity of the situation, with the rain intensity twice that of a one in one hundred year event.

Mackay Mayor Julie Boyd said an analysis of the rainfall intensity indicates that Mackay received peak rainfall intensities up to 184 millimetres in an hour.

“The recorded intensity was double the one in one hundred-year rainfall intensity, according to figures from the Bureau of Meteorology, “ Cr Boyd said.

The figures show the rain intensity continued unabated for six hours, resulting in the city receiving falls well in excess of the one in one hundred year rainfall event during that period.

“This resulted in Mackay receiving about 600 millimetres over a six hour period.

“No drainage system in Queensland is designed to carry runoff from such a significant event,” Cr Boyd said.

Cr Boyd said early indications suggest that this rainfall event was among one of the most intense rainfall events recorded in Australia.

All our new developments are based on the recommended state standards.

Cr Boyd said it’s important to recognise that this rainfall event also occurred with the city already saturated from falls of up to 200 millimetres only days before.

“This creates an already saturated environment, which increases the storm water runoff into the drainage systems,” she said.

Mackay has received about 80 per cent of its annual rainfall in the first seven weeks of the year.