T Tasmania’s Cataract Gorge turns a raging torrent
It wasn't as bad as 2016 but heavy rains have turned a popular Tasmanian swimming spot into a raging torrent, with a mother and daughter pair's chairlift ride turning into a terrifying ordeal.
Launceston's Deb Rushton visited the city's Cataract Gorge yesterday afternoon with her daughter Amy and said she couldn't believe how high the water was.
She recalled that we went across on the chairlift and the water felt like it was only a few metres below us.
I kept saying to Amy, just don't look down!'' Adrian Cash is the most rainy Tasmanian business owner who has seen in the Cataract Gorge's First Basin in many years.
He said it's pretty spectacular that this amount of water is quite a sight.
The water levels in the popular tourist attraction peaked overnight, swallowing the swimming pool and coming up to the playground, fed by the South Esk River.
Mr Cash said that water laps the pool every year but it only comes up any higher every three or four years.
He has run the restaurant at the gorge for the last 21 years and remembers in 2016 when water lapped the windows of the gorge cafe.
I suspect it will look like this for another week or so, with the amount of water still to come through, it usually takes three days for it to flow through. Andrew Smith moved to Tasmania for a tree change from Sydney a year and a half ago.
It is lovely isn't it, just gorgeous, but where has the swimming pool gone? It's just completely gone, it's in there somewhere, he said.
I need to figure out how to take the best picture to show how full it is. Ashley Lloyd is a passenger in Tasmania with her husband and two children from South Australia.
My daughter is amazed by the water she loves the view, she said.
It's a bit shaky on the bridge, bit eerie it was very surprising to see it like this, wasn't expecting it. While the gorge is a popular swimming spot, those venturing into the First Basin are warned of the potential for conditions to change quickly, with the latest drowning in January this year.
There is more wild weather on the way.
Much of Tasmania has been hit with flash flooding and strong winds over the last few days.
In Hadspen, south of Launceston, properties have been on alert, with the Meander River forcing low lying properties to move livestock to higher ground.
Parts of the east coast are expected to have dangerous winds of up to 80 kph.
Forecaster Luke Johnston of the Bureau of Meteorology said that Tasmania would see a series of cold fronts over the weekend and Monday.
We have minor flooding happening on the South Esk, North Esk, Meander and Macquarie Rivers at the moment. Over the coming days, the flood levels are set to remain the same but could rise on Monday, according to Johnston.
The north is the wettest part of Tasmania, as it's almost everywhere saturated at the moment.