More and More Rain

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When we came to Mount Isa in December we knew this was a dry, hot place. We'd been here on a driving holiday the year before and knew this first hand. What we didn't expect was for the drought that the region has been suffering to break, and really break.

This afternoon we had an amazing electrical storm with thunder as loud as mortar explosions. Our house was literally shaking. We decided to go out to the shops to pick up some noodles for dinner before the storm got any worse, but we were too late. On the way to the shops it started pouring with rain, and I mean pouring! We had so much rain it was as if a cloud had fallen from the sky.

What we decided to do was to head home, grab the camera, and walk down to a creek that we passed along the way. We wanted to see how much water ended up flowing. The creek, which looks to be a river in the photos I've attached, was no more than a 30cm wide trickle when we first left the house - it ended up being a raging torrent that was at least 100m wide at its widest point, and in less than fifteen minutes! I can honestly say that I've never seen so much water appear in such a short amount of time in all my life.

And we forgot to get the noodles.

EDIT: The bridge name is 'Sunset Bridge' and the creek is a feeder creek for the Leichardt River.
(You can find this location on my Mount Isa Google Map.)

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Photos

Bins
We'd just driven up past these bins, and they were still standing in front of a dry road. We got to the end of the road, turned around, and in perhaps one minute these bins were being washed down the road.

The Flooded Creek
This is the creek that I mentioned in the blog entry. It was no more than a trickle a couple of minutes before this photo was taken.

Splashes
This car had the misfortune of crossing the bridge just as the creek burst its banks. You can see the bridge rails behind the car, it's about 15m deep there.

The Other Side
This is the other side of the bridge. That whole area was dry ten minutes before this photo was taken.

More Flooding
This is looking to the right of the bridge. You can see the left bank of the torrent in this picture, the right bank is at the least 100m away, possibly quite a bit more.

More Flooding 2
The same side as the last picture - I don't know how secure those houses are right now.

Under the Bridge
This is the flooded creek spewing out from under the bridge.

The Walk Home
India and I walking back home.

Comments

[anonymous]

Great photos
It will be interesting to find out just how much rain we had in the two hours. Weather channel and sites say 7mm - I think there should be a couple digits in front of that 7. ABC news site said 'hundreds of millimetres'

[simon ives]

How Much Rain
I've got no idea how much rain fell but I can assure anyone that it was far more than 7mm! I'll upload a couple more photos this weekend. We went back to the creek (Sunset Bridge) and took some after photos.

[anonymous]

How much rain?
I'll check back next week. I had my son do some videoing while I was driving but as you would know we couldnt see much through the windscreen as the rain was so heavy.

[simon ives]

After Pics
I've uploaded some after pics at my next post - http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Mt-Isa/blog-366576.html

[anonymous]

After pics
More great photos thanks. By the way, we got 200mm in two hours..........

[frankie du berry]

flood in the Isa
I love the "...and we forgot to get the noodles" afterwards!!!