Tropical Cyclone Oswald has played both Samaritan and scrooge since it crossed the coast of Queensland’s western Cape one week ago, breaking a six-month dry spell for many producers in eastern Australia but denying falls in other areas where rain-relief was desperately needed.
The monsoonal low triggered by Oswald’s arrival has dumped massive volumes of rain and caused destructive flooding in Queensland and New South Wales, and has claimed four lives so far.
Despite the widespread nature of the event penetration into the dry inland, such as the gulf and western areas of Queensland and New South Wales has been minimal to nil, as the map of rainfall coverage for the past seven days shows.
While eastern Australia is awash, Victoria continues to fight bushfires.
Where the slow-moving system did produce rain, experiences for producers ranged from delight in almost perfect soaking rain of 50-150mm to heart-break caused by much heavier and destructive falls.
At Callungal Station near Calliope in Central Queensland, Will Wilson believes he may have lost more than 800 cattle, 100km of fencing and some machinery after more than a metre of rain (1000mm) fell in the catchments of the
Don and Dee Rivers and sent a torrent of floodwater cascading through his property.
A number of creeks feed into both the Don and Dee Rivers which join on Callungal.
“It came down each creek separately, and just the speed it came down the Dee River, it came so quick that it took out the paddocks we were holding cattle in,” Mr Wilson told Beef Central this morning.
“I think that probably over 2000 head have floated (downstream) and I think about 1500 of them might have survived.
“I think it will be about 800 head lost, something like that.”
The Wilsons had recently been selling cattle off Callungal because the property was becoming so dry.
One paddock on Callungal which measured just 200mm (eight inches) of rain last year has received 475mm (19 inches) in three days since Thursday.
“It was back to dirt, then we got 19 inches in three days so you can imagine what it was like,” Mr Wilson said.
“We had moved the cattle out of that paddock because there was no water left, then two days later they were washed back down to that paddock by water.
“So we’d had these cattle up, we just couldn’t get the chopper up in the air (due to the heavy rain) to get them right out of the way.”
Asked he was aware of cattle being lost from other properties, Mr Wilson said he had flown over his country yesterday and had seen a lot of cattle “that weren’t mine”.
He was also able to establish that about 500 bullocks from Callungal had floated about 10km but managed to survive.
His first job will be to make fencing on Callungal stock proof again and then to focus on mustering cattle back.
While the floodwater will bring seasonal relief from the dry conditions, Mr Wilson said he would prefer to be in the position he was in prior to the rain.
“This is destructive, I would go back a week for sure if we had the chance.”
Damage to nearby road infrastructure provides a sense of the flood’s destructive nature. Washed out bridges have cut off access for western traffic into both Rockhampton and Gladstone. 30 lengths of five-tonne pipe from a nearby gas pipeline have also been left scattered across a road near Callungal.
There have been further reports of hundreds of cattle having been washed away in the North Burnett region north west of Bundaberg.
Mayor Don Waugh told ABC Radio that a large dairy farm at Mundubbera has been “wiped out”.
"That dairy property has a milking operation, milking 400 head of cattle that has been totally inundated," he said.
"The cattle [have been] washed away and there's nothing left."
Further coverage on the implications of the weekend's rain and flooding event on Beef Central tomorrow
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