[2] What was a remnant of Ex-Cyclone Sid in the Coral Sea near Cardwell had produced a band of strong gales that slowly moved south between Cardwell and Bowen with wind gusts of up to 90 km/h, as it moved south into the Ingham area,[3] Ingham had received around 295mm between 9 pm and 9 am the morning of 9 January.
Late into the evening, the heaviest of the rain was now falling and gale-force winds were continuing (at its heaviest, the rain was falling at 100 mm per hour) as most streets in the city are flat, the city streets were underwater and blocked by fallen trees and power lines.
Water was up to 3 meters deep through parts of the CBD and hundreds of businesses and homes were inundated in both Townsville and Thuringowa, plus around 200 people had to be evacuated.
A landslide, estimated to be 20,000 cubic meters destroyed 12 and damaged 6 units on a Magnetic Island resort and another landslide destroyed a million dollar home on Stanton Terrace and boulders were also loosened on Castle Hill and rolled down into Stuart Street in the CBD.
[4] Most roads in the city were impassable; the Bruce Highway was closed to the north and south of the city as were all rail links as at the time they were still under water; the airport was closed to all commercial traffic as the runway was under water, and the navigation aids still out of order, electricity was off in most of the city and water was also off in the northern suburbs of Thuringowa, all sewage pumping stations were inoperable (one was underwater), Queensland Nickel's tailings dam at the Yabulu nickel refinery had overflowed spilling the pollutants into the nearby flooded river and out to the sea, one resident found two cars and a yacht in his yard, and sadly one person was confirmed dead, after being washed off a flooded road in his car.