TAS: Heavy flooding in northern Tasmania

AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-2005
TAS: Heavy flooding in northern Tasmania

By Robyn Grace

HOBART, Aug 31 AAP - Emergency crews closed floodgates in a northern Tasmanian river
today in a bid to head off rising flood waters fuelled by torrential rain.

Storms dumped as much as 24cm of rain across the state's north last night, causing
major flooding, road closures, inundating shops and forcing the evacuation of a caravan
park.

Launceston City Council staff closed five floodgates in the North Esk river ahead of
a peak at 10.21am (AEST) today as waters continued to rise in downstream catchments.

Council spokesman Gary Stokes said the gates would remain closed "until we're sure
there won't be a threat".

Mr Stokes said about 100 council staff had worked through the night to minimise damage
from the flood.

Fourteen shops were flooded in the Launceston suburb of Kings Meadow, but emergency
crews were not expecting any damage to residential areas, he said.

About seven people were evacuated from the Apex Caravan Park at Deloraine, east of
Launceston, about 1am (AEST).

Apex volunteers worked through the night to save eight caravans from rising waters
of the Meander River.

A caravan park spokesman said this morning water had reached to the fourth brick of
the amenities block.

"Once it started coming, it really came," he said.

Rain in the area had eased but Mr Stokes said the weather was unpredictable.

"There's sunshine at the moment but there were showers 10 minutes ago," he said.

Tasmania police were forced to close 10 roads overnight as unexpected rain poured into
the Meander River basin, east of Launceston.

No accidents have been reported but police have advised motorists to avoid driving
through floodwaters and to obey all road closure signs, a police spokeswoman said.

The Bureau of Meteorology released floodwatch alerts yesterday afternoon but said the
downpour was unexpectedly heavy.

"The totals just floored us," senior hydrologist Chris MacGeorge said.

Top rainfall overnight was recorded in the Breona area, at the north end of the Great
Lake, which measured 240 millimetres in 24 hours.

Mr MacGeorge said bureau staff were now closely watching river peaks.

River levels in the upper reaches of the Meander River are falling, but major flooding
is expected to continue in the Deloraine area and further downstream.

Climate section meteorologist Ian Barnes-Keoghan said Tasmania's winter weather had
been "terribly varied".

Average temperatures had produced one of the warmest winters ever recorded, but snowfall
on August 11 had also set a new lowest maximum temperature, with Mount Wellington staying
below -5 degrees all day.

Mr Barnes-Keaghan said Tasmania's weather had reflected a warmer weather pattern seen
across Australia, but there were still cold stretches during winter.

"There's very little pattern to it," he said.

AAP rgr/sco/jlw

KEYWORD: FLOOD LEAD

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