Paradise Dam in the North Burnett is projected to spill nearly three billion litres of water over the course of Monday, with residents downstream told to prepare for potential flooding.
Water services company Sunwater, which owns the structure near Biggenden, advised the region’s locals on the morning of 31 March that excess water from the dam would be flowing into the Burnett River system throughout the day.
According to Sunwater’s dam level monitoring system, Paradise Dam is at 102.1 per cent capacity at time of writing, containing over four billion litres more than its 170,000 megalitre storage limit.
As of around 4am, the dam has started discharging excess water, with the projected daily flow rate standing at 2,958 megalitres – or 1,183 Olympic swimming pools’ worth – as of 12pm.
Sunwater expect the spilling water to remain within the banks of the Burnett River, but the company has warned locals downstream of the dam that “conditions could change rapidly.”
Parts of the North Burnett experienced heavy rainfall over the weekend, with a Bureau of Meteorology weather station at Gayndah recording 46.6mm of rain between Friday 28 and Saturday 29 March, followed by an additional 10.6mm between 29 and 30 March.
To stay up-to-date with the dam’s level and rate of spilling, visit storagelevels.sunwater.com.au/win/reports/win_storages.htm
