Wet Season Has Arrived

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I haven’t written much for a while now, primarily because I haven’t actually had the opportunity to do much gardening work at all.

Our wet season finally arrived and it came in with a bang!

From this …

to this.

January 2025 was a month of extremes for us here in north Queensland. For most of the month, we experienced relentlessly hot, humid and dry conditions, with daytime highs running about 2°C above the long-term average.

While that may not seem like a significant increase, over a month-long period, it makes a noticeable difference, amplifying the stress on the garden and the discomfort of the gardener. The high humidity made those temperatures feel closer to 40°C on some days, making even simple gardening tasks a challenge.

The total rainfall for January was a mere 148 mm – less than half the historical average recorded since 1941. The primary reason? The delayed arrival of the monsoon trough.

The monsoon trough is usually positioned over northern Australia in the southern summer month of January and then moves northward to sit along the equator during our southern winter.

It is the monsoon trough that brings areas of low pressure and sustained heavy rainfall. This happens during what we refer to as “the wet season”. The beginning of a wet season is variable, but it usually happens during January.

On the very last day of January, after weeks of oppressive heat and inadequate rainfall, Townsville (my city) and its surrounding areas were suddenly hit in the afternoon and evening with a staggering 280 to 300 mm of rain, and then the deluge continued the next day with another 260 to 280 mm (recorded at the weather station in the city). That’s a lot of rain – 21 to 22 inches in 48 hours.

An area of low pressure had converged over Townsville and its surrounds and remained there for the following week. The downpours were relentless. Here in my outlying rural suburb, we received almost 500 mm (almost 20 inches) in that same period.

To put all this into perspective, Townsville’s annual average rainfall is 1137 mm. With 1139 mm recorded up to the first day of February, the city had already exceeded its yearly average just five weeks into the year.

This milestone comes after a record-breaking December 2024, when Townsville Airport (in the inner city where the weather station is located) set a new rainfall record with 487 mm, bringing the three-month total to a staggering 1626mm (64 inches)!

Northern Queensland, is no stranger to tropical weather, but the period from January the 31st to February 6th was been nothing short of extraordinary.

While no destructive cyclone made landfall, a series of unfavourable conditions transformed a relatively common weather system in to a record-breaking weather event. For some, it’s been a catastrophic event, surpassing all expectations in terms of rainfall and impact.

A tropical low, which originally formed off the coast of Cairns (around 600 km to the north of my home city of Townsville) on January 28 and then moved south, inundated a 735 km stretch of coastline from Cairns to Mackay with staggering amounts of rain.

Some areas recorded nearly two metres of rainfall in just a few days. The event claimed two lives and left several towns inaccessible.

Townsville, Ingham and Cardwell were among the worst hit by flash floods and overflowing waters.

Both Ingham (270 km north of Townsville) and Cardwell (320 km north) were completely cut off, with houses submerged and highways closed due to floodwaters.

Ingham

Cardwell

Residents faced power outages and a compromised water supply, forcing authorities to cut off access to running water. With roads impassable, grocery supplies dwindled rapidly, leaving communities struggling to secure essentials.

My city of Townsville – the largest city in northern Queensland – is a sprawling city covering an area of almost 3,750 km2, and includes 98 suburbs. Normally, rainfall is inconsistent across the city. The inner city can be drenched while the outer suburbs remain dry. During this weather event, all suburbs received rain, but as usual, it varied across the city.

Many of the northwest suburbs recorded massive rainfall totals from January 31st to February 2nd compared to the suburbs located on the outskirts to the south.

The suburb of Rollingstone, 60 km northwest of the Townsville city centre, recorded a whopping 702 mm over the 24 hours to 9.00 am on February 2nd, while the Townsville Airport (in the inner city where the weather station is located) recorded 545 mm, and my outlying rural suburb received around 486 mm over that same period of time.

Townsville

By Sunday, February 3rd, low-lying inner city suburbs of Townsville, such as Rosslea, Oonoonba, Railway Estate and Stuart, were declared “black zone” areas and residents were told to evacuate.

Police went door to door informing home owners that it was in their best interest to leave their home and go to the nearest emergency shelter. Small armies of support workers were there to provide everything from bedding and towels to pet food and counselling.

Suburbs located along the Ross River were also included in the “black zone” area as the river’s water level rose quickly. Water levels in the city’s Ross River Dam, which fed into Ross River, rose over the dam’s 100% capacity and our local authority began releasing water through spillways to relieve pressure. This of course added to the already increased volume in the Ross River. Many residents in homes close to the swollen river began sandbagging their properties in an effort to keep out the rising water.

When the flooding peaked at the start of this week, Townsville came to a complete halt. Roads across the city were closed due to the rising water, cutting off entire suburbs. Shops shut their doors, unable to operate amid the chaos. Schools were closed. Bus services and the airport ceased operations.

By the end of last week, the most intense rainfall here in Townsville had eased, allowing floodwaters to begin receding.

However, lows have continued to develop along the monsoon trough and other areas have now also experienced serious flooding from torrential rain. It’s been an intense wet season so far.

My rural suburb

Living in a rural suburb on the southern outskirts of Townsville, my experience of the flood event has been somewhat different from those in the inner city and north-western suburbs.

Rainfall totals in my area have been slightly lower, meaning flooding has not been as severe. Roads providing access to our suburb from the highway were under water for a couple of days at the start of this week, but they cleared fairly quickly. Properties were also flooded but only a few homes down on the flats were actually inundated with flood water.

My property sits in an elevated position, allowing excess water to drain away quickly. While two flat areas on my property have gone underwater – the shade house garden floor and the paved courtyard garden – the water only reached a few centimetres deep.

Some of the outdoor areas are very slippery and unsafe and everything underfoot is sodden and muddy as the rain continues.

• 10 Feb, 2025
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