Dangerous storm warning, Qld woman rescued

Marty Silk and Nick Gibbs | October 20, 2022

Giant hail stones, damaging winds and intense rain leading to flash flooding could affect parts of central Queensland with a severe thunderstorm warning active.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued the alert for towns including Emerald and Capella on Thursday afternoon, warning the storms could hit over the next several hours.

Rainfall totals so far include 44mm in 30 minutes west of Rolleston and 51mm in an hour southwest of Emerald.

A storm warning is also current for a large part of the state stretching from Goondiwindi in the south to Charters Towers in the north. 

Thursday’s warnings follow the rescue of a woman from a car in floodwaters in central Queensland overnight.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said the woman in her 20s was rescued after her car became submerged near the flooding Mackenzie River just after 7pm on Wednesday.

She was taken to Emerald Hospital in a stable condition.

Central and southern Queensland are on flood watch as a low pressure system and trough track slowly eastwards this week.

Catchments are already soaked and the bureau has forecast increasing showers and thunderstorms, some likely to be severe, in the coming days.