Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
This Flood Watch provides early advice of possible flooding within the specified catchments.
Flood Watch for North West, North and North East, and Derwent catchments
Issued at 12:44pm on Wednesday 12 October 2022 by the Bureau of Meteorology, Hobart.
Flood Watch Number: 2
WIDESPREAD FLOODING IS EXPECTED ACROSS NORTHERN TASMANIA AND PARTS OF THE DERWENT CATCHMENT FROM THURSDAY. MAJOR FLOODING IS POSSIBLE.
FLOODING AT SOME LOCATIONS MAY BE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT SINCE JUNE 2016.
A very slow moving cold front is expected to bring heavy rainfall into northern parts of Tasmania from Wednesday evening until early Friday morning. Catchments are wet across the flood watch area and rivers will respond rapidly to rainfall.
Widespread rainfall totals of 60-100 mm are likely across the northern half of the state, with falls of 180 mm about the northeast highlands, and up to around 250 mm or more about the Western Tiers from Wednesday evening until early Friday morning.
A severe weather warning is current for heavy to intense rainfall to impact Northern Tasmania from Wednesday night. Widespread minor to moderate flooding is expected from Thursday within the flood watch area.
Major flooding is possible in parts of the Forth, North Esk, Mersey, lower Macquarie and Meander rivers and the River Ouse (in the River Derwent catchment). At some locations, flooding may be the most significant since June 2016.
Localised flooding is likely in small creeks and low lying areas in locations that receive heavy rainfall. Catchments likely to be affected include:
- North Esk River
- South Esk River
- Meander River
- Macquarie River
- East Coastal Rivers (north of Bicheno)
- Ringarooma River
- North Coastal Rivers
- Tamar (Launceston)
- Mersey River
- Forth River
- Northwest and Central Coastal Rivers
- Arthur River
- Derwent River
Note: This Flood Watch is a “heads up” for possible future flooding and is NOT a Flood Warning. The Bureau of Meteorology does not provide a flood warning service for all of the catchments covered by this flood watch. For more information on the Flood Watch Service: http://www.bom.gov.au/water/floods/floodWarningServices.shtml
For the latest warnings see www.bom.gov.au/tas/warnings
For the latest rainfall and river level information see www.bom.gov.au/tas/flood
For the latest weather forecast see www.bom.gov.au/tas/forecasts
Flood Safety Advice:
SES flood warnings can be found at TasALERT.com
Flood and storm safety advice is available at www.ses.tas.gov.au
Road closure information is available at www.police.tas.gov.au
For emergency assistance call the SES on telephone number 132 500.
For life threatening situations, call 000 immediately.
Next Issue:
The next Flood Watch will be issued by 01:00 pm EDT on Thursday 13 October 2022.
