Police are encouraging residents to leave the small outback town, about 430 kilometres from Mount Isa, as it experiences record-breaking flooding, with warnings in place along the Nicholson, Gregory and Leichhardt Rivers.
“Sewerage to the town has been compromised and power to the town will be cut off today,” Queensland Police said in a statement.
“Police are strongly urging all remaining residents to leave the community of Burketown as soon as possible.”
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services also issued an emergency alert for the town, warning residents that today is their last chance to evacuate.
Parts of Queensland’s north-west received between 200mm and 500mm of rain this week to set up the floods.
The peak of the Albert River at Burketown has exceeded the previous 2011 flood record of 6.78 metres in the town with a population of 238 people.
The north-west flooding comes as tropical low moves across the state’s north-west, which is expected to bring heavy rain and storms for the state’s south on both Saturday and Sunday.
Brisbane City Council has put out an alert for residents to be wary of potential flash flooding.
“This tropical moisture is now spreading further south and will fuel wet and stormy weather over parts of a large area of western, central and southern Queensland this weekend, including the state’s south-east,” Weatherzone said.
“There is still some model uncertainty regarding how the weekend’s weather will play out in the state’s south-east.
“At this stage, Saturday is more likely to feature rain than storms in Brisbane and Sunday has a better chance of severe thunderstorm activity.
“However, storms are possible in Brisbane on both Saturday and Sunday, so be sure to stay up to date with the latest warnings across the weekend.”
Across the rest of the country, Sydney is expecting a top of 30 degrees, Melbourne 23, Brisbane, 26, Perth 31, Adelaide 26, Hobart 22, Canberra 27 and Darwin 33.
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