While wild winds and cyclone-like storms cause chaos in Victoria and parts of New South Wales, the weather problems are easing in Queensland.
The Birdsville Track has now reopened after a weekend deluge turned parts of it into a quagmire and left some travellers bogged. The Diamantina Shire Council says most roads in the shire are now open to four-wheel drives.
The ABC reports that the council’s Trevor Stewart says people still need to drive to the conditions but that the track has held up well after recent heavy rain. The Landsborough Highway in Queensland’s central west has also re-opened.
The highway had been cut between Tambo and Blackall after a metre of water ran across a roadworks diversion over the Barcoo River. Police said hundreds of motorists on both sides of the highway had been affected. Sergeant Dominic Richardson said that at one point every street in Tambo had been full of heavy vehicles and caravans.
“It was almost a bit of a party atmosphere for some of them,” Sgt Richardson told the ABC. “They’ve all shown common sense, thank goodness.”
Lin Hutchinson from the Tambo roadhouse said it had been an extraordinary 24 hours. “It’s a sight for sore eyes – the trucks are lined up out of town, down the main street, down the side streets,” she told the ABC. “Caravans are camped through the main street.”
