|
 Locust
plague arrives in Central Western NSW
What the Sydney Morning Herald described at "the worst
locust plague in 20 years" has descended on Dubbo in central NSW. January's
rain through southern QLD and northern NSW, following years of drought, hatched
locust eggs, and now the mature locusts are swarming southwards in dense
bands devouring pasture and crops as they go. Dead locusts lie on roads like
drifts of leaves, while live ones are blocking the air intakes of motor vehicles
and making human breathing hazardous. The main concern of NSW Agriculture
is that the migratory locusts are now laying eggs as they move into southern
populated areas such as around Dubbo, Gunnedah and Moree. The swarming bands
are not currently dense enough to allow effective aerial spraying, and spraying
near populated areas is difficult. If the weather stays warm, these eggs
could hatch within the next few weeks. If the weather is cooler, a plague
outbreak starting in the state's Central West is likely next spring. Either
way, plague locusts may reach farther south than before. The nearest a plague
has come to Sydney is the Hunter Valley.
 Cyclone Fay develops
off NT NW coast
A tropical low deepened to tropical cyclone intensity late this evening
and was christened Fay. The low had been moving slowly
west along the monsoon trough just north of the Gulf of Carpentaria and the
Arnhem Land Coast, but began deepening yesterday morning off the central
NT north coast. Late this evening it was located about 300km WNW of Darwin,
still moving slowly west. Point Fawcett, the SW tip of Bathurst Island north
of Darwin, recorded 180.2mm in the 24 hours to 9am this morning, while many
locations along the NT north coast reported falls between 50 and 100mm, much
of which fell during the early hours of this morning.
Flooding
in Far North QLD
Four days of heavy rain has produced minor to moderate flooding in
the Tully River Basin south of Cairns and moderate flooding in the small
Murray River
Basin immediately to its south. The Tully peaked at 8.1m around midday
today at Euramo, just south of the township of Tully, while the Murray at Murray
Flats, just a few kilometres farther south, continued to rise very slowly at
minor flood levels during the day. 345mm has fallen in the past 4 days at Jarra
Creek, 10km NW of Tully, and even heavier rain is likely to have fallen around
Koombooloomba Dam in the mountains at the headwaters of the Tully River. |
