Is Water Coming Down the Diamantina?

The Diamantina's live level up the valley at Diamantina Lakes, alongside the town's own gauge — an early read on whether a flood pulse is heading down toward Birdsville, often days before it arrives.

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About these tools

Town Tools builds free, public tools for Birdsville and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Worth knowing

Why watch upstream

Birdsville sits near the bottom of the Diamantina. A rise on a gauge above town is an early sign that water is on its way down — often days before the river reaches Birdsville and spreads across the approach roads. Diamantina Lakes, roughly 300 km up the valley (and further again along the river's winding channels), is the nearest gauge above town with a live public feed.

The water comes from far away

Much of the Diamantina's flow is born in the Queensland ranges hundreds of kilometres to the north, around Winton and Kynuna, and takes days to work its way south through the Channel Country. So the river at Birdsville can rise under a clear sky — local rain here tells you little. The upstream gauge and the Bureau's warnings tell you more.

Between here and the Lakes

The Bureau's flood-warning network also gauges the river at Monkira, between Diamantina Lakes and Birdsville, but that gauge has no live public feed — so this page leads with Diamantina Lakes. When the Bureau issues a Diamantina flood warning it reports Monkira, Durrie and Roseberth on the way down; the warning link above is the fuller picture.

Official channels

Diamantina River flood warning system (Bureau of Meteorology)How floods build and move down the Diamantina, gauge by gauge, from the headwaters to Birdsville.

Bureau of Meteorology — Water Data OnlineThe live gauge data this page reads, including Diamantina Lakes (station 002104A) and Birdsville (station A0020101).

Queensland Disaster ManagementGet-ready information and alerts for Queensland. For live road closures, use the reports linked in 'Roads In & Out'.

Is Water Coming Down the Diamantina?

About these tools

Upstream gauges

Diamantina Lakes

Here in town

Birdsville

Worth knowing

Why watch upstream

The water comes from far away

Between here and the Lakes

Official channels