ZOE

History

Severe Tropical Cyclone Zoe was identified and named on 9 March 1974, when the developing system lay in the Coral Sea to the northeast of Brisbane. Over the following days Zoe tracked steadily southward, roughly paralleling the southern Queensland and far northern New South Wales coastline.

Rather than producing a damaging landfall, Zoe's main significance was its interaction with a pre-existing trough in the easterly flow. The combination generated prolonged, extremely heavy rainfall along a long stretch of coast, extending from Brisbane southward almost as far as Sydney. Between 10 and 13 March, Brisbane recorded 419.4 mm of rain, while parts of the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales were drenched by totals approaching 700 mm in the same four-day period.

Because catchments across the region were already saturated following the exceptional rainfall of January 1974 — the month of Cyclone Wanda and the Brisbane flood — the runoff was severe. Record flooding resulted on the Richmond River, which peaked at a height of 12.17 metres.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia