WA cut off as dangerous floods inundate roads, rail
Source: Bureau of Meteorology
The sole rail line connecting Western Australia to the rest of the country is likely to remain closed for days, while there are concerns for missing travellers, as parts of the state get a year’s worth of rain in just a few days.
The Trans-Australian Railway line, a key freight route running between WA and South Australia through the Nullarbor, has been closed since Sunday with flood waters inundating parts of the track.
The Eyre Highway – the main road connecting WA with SA – was also closed because of flooding but re-opened on Tuesday morning.
- Read more: Four children among seven travellers missing in remote region of WA
- The WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services said it would reassess its condition at 5pm Perth time.
Tweet from @BLittlewood9
More than 200 millimetres of rain fell on parts of south-east WA in the 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday, with March rainfall records tumbling for the Eucla and Goldfields districts.
Average rainfall in those areas is about 260 millimetres a year.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast further 24-hour totals of up to 150 millimetres for affected areas during Tuesday and Wednesday.
“A near-stationary trough over south-eastern Western Australia will remain in the area until the middle of the week,” the bureau said on Tuesday.
“A moist air mass drawn southward from the tropics is combining with this trough to produce a band of heavy rainfall, with embedded thunderstorms capable of locally intense falls.”
The system is expected to persist throughout the rest of Tuesday and into Wednesday.
Intense rainfall of up to 80 millimetres was forecast across six hours, potentially leading to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding.
Tweet from @BOM_au
WA’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services warned residents in Rawlinna, Carnegie, Cocklebiddy, Eyre and Zanthus to seek shelter, stand clear of windows and refrain from driving through flood waters.
“If you live in parts of the Goldfields, Eucla and South Interior districts you should take action and stay safe with severe weather to come,” the department advised.
“This is not typical weather for south-eastern Western Australia.”
Photos posted to social media by Rawlinna Station, Australia’s largest sheep station, showed the notoriously arid Nullarbor resembling an inland sea.
Given the anticipated prolonged rainfall, the east-west rail line is expected to remain closed until later in the week, the Australian Rail Track Corporation said.
The iconic Indian-Pacific train service that operates between Perth and Sydney via Adelaide has been cancelled as a result.
“Due to a severe weather incident on the Nullarbor, the Indian Pacific schedule until Saturday 16 March has been impacted,” its website says.
“At this time, all departures from Sunday 17 March will operate as scheduled.”
The Leonora Laverton Road remained closed to traffic in both directions between Laverton and Leonora in the Goldfields region.
Tweet from @dfes_wa
Lingering monsoonal storms continued to bring heavy rain to the Top End and northern WA, with large areas receiving between 100 millimetres and 300 millimetres of rain in recent days.
People in Fitzroy Crossing, Noonkanbah and Mount Barnett were warned to take emergency action, with minor flooding expected on Tuesday and in the coming days.
DFES personnel were deployed to assist isolated communities after the Great Northern Highway was shut in both directions between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek.
More rain is on the way with the potential for tropical cycles to develop in the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Carpentaria and Coral Sea over the next week, the BOM warned.
