Ex-Tropical Cyclone Trevor brings much-needed relief to drought-ravaged Western Queensland

Extract from ABC News

By Aneeta Bhole and Rachel Riga

Updated 9 minutes ago

Photo: Tara Rule's son Cody Cozier enjoying his first sight of rain with in Charleville on Wednesday. (Supplied: Tara Rule)

Young children in Western Queensland are seeing rain for the first time in their lives, as many graziers welcome falls from the tail end of ex-Tropical Cyclone Trevor.

Some areas of the central-west and south-west have received their first rain in more than year, with the surface trough delivering between 100 and 200 millimetres over the past 24 hours.
Tara Rule, from Tyrone Station near Charleville, said the 80mm they had received was the first decent rain in 12 months.
"It's been very dry ... there was no water in the dams and definitely no grass left," Ms Rule said.
She said it was the time first her two-year-old son, Cody, had seen rain, as they had lived in Tambo prior to moving to Tyrone Station.
"He's very excited; he wants to get on the four-wheeler, but he's got to wait until his father (Cameron) gets back for the day," she said.
A severe weather warning for heavy rainfall has been issued for the Central West and parts of the Central Highlands and Coalfields, Channel Country and Maranoa and Warrego districts.
The rain is expected to continue through until Thursday in the warning areas before moving towards the coast.

Photo: Tracy Hatch was thrilled to receive 84mm of rain on her Newstead property at Ilfracombe, near Longreach. (Supplied: Tracy Hatch)

Emergency services said 18 people from Dajarra, south of Mount Isa, had been relocated because of the weather, but there were no major concerns other than road closures from localised flooding.
In Quilpie, Wendy Sheehan and her family have dusted off their gumboots to enjoy the rain and mud.

Photo: A girl in Longreach enjoys a rare chance to play in puddles on Wednesday. (Supplied: Casey Owen)

"We've had just over 90mm, so it's going to fill up the dams, and it'll mean a really good start ahead of winter," she said.
"We were feeling a bit concerned, but this has put a really positive spin on the rest of the year."
Last month, devastating floods from a monsoon trough that affected Townsville swept across parts of the central and north-west, killing about 500,000 head of cattle.
Lindsay Allan was evacuated from his property near Cloncurry during the flood. He said the rainfall they were seeing now was a godsend.
"We still don't know for sure how much cattle we lost, but we think it's about 200 head of cattle," Mr Allan said.
"This rain now couldn't be better. It was starting to dry out a bit and this will bring growth for at least a month now."
Earlier this week, Stonehenge, south of Longreach, received up to 250mm of rain.
In the north-west, Urandangi recorded 134mm, while a property close to Adavale in the state's south-west received falls of 98mm.

South east to get rain over the weekend

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Gabriel Branescu said south-east Queensland would experience more rain this week, as the system moved towards the coast.
"We saw this morning a southerly change moving through, and that caused a little bit of early morning shower activity with some heavy falls mainly off the coast in the south-east," he said.
"The upper trough should move to the east, and therefore the heavy rain will spread into the Central Highlands and Coalfields.
"It will come down to the south-east ... the rainfall won't be as heavy as it is in the central interior, but there's still potential for 20 to 40mm of rainfall more towards the coast on the weekend."