Southern Queensland still in drought while northern region battles floods

While the north of the state grapples with floodwaters, southern Queensland is facing a desperate drought with no end in sight, especially for those towns trucking water.

Between 40 and 50 trucks a day have been carting water to the Southern Downs town of Stanthorpe since January last year.

The water supply in the town of Clifton, 45 kilometres south of Toowoomba, also ran dry in 2019, forcing the Toowoomba Regional Council to truck in at least 12 loads of water daily.

Neighbouring towns such as Highfields and parts of Toowoomba recorded falls as high as 100 millimetres over 24-hour periods in the past week, but no significant rainfall reached the critical dam catchments on the Southern and Darling Downs.

Bill Brown has been…