Australia's east coast is bracing for a severe weather event, with a 'humid and unstable airmass' expected to bring heavy rain, flooding, and thunderstorms across multiple states. The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has issued warnings for intense rainfall, which could lead to dangerous flash flooding in Queensland's west and the central Northern Territory (NT). This system is already causing significant impacts, with a remote NT community, Alpurrurulam, recording 250mm of rainfall over Friday night and Saturday morning, more than double the community's monthly average and its biggest downpour in over a decade. The storms could bring damaging winds of about 90 km/h and threaten cattle and other livestock, stretching from Mount Isa and Bedourie in Queensland to Tennant Creek and Yuendumu in the NT. The weather is expected to worsen, with the system connecting to a cold front pulling moisture south, leading to widespread heavy rainfall and thunderstorms over the north of South Australia (SA) and the NT. This will combine with very humid and unstable air to produce widespread heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. Australia's southern states will not escape the wild weather, with rising moisture and humidity closer to the coast in SA and Victoria expected to bring rain by late Sunday. The intense weather system is forecast to hit north-west New South Wales (NSW) by Monday and could bring floods. Scone, in NSW's Hunter region, already recorded 102mm of rain in six hours on Saturday night. The BoM warns that SA and the NT could face flooding, blocked roads, and rising rivers from Sunday until at least Wednesday. It is the first significant rain forecast for the bushfire-affected states since December, with bushfires still burning in Victoria. An evacuation warning was issued for a 1,100ha fire at Gaffneys Creek and the A1 Mine settlement, in heavily forested areas near Woods Point north of Melbourne, on Sunday.
