Please note, although your property may not have been directly affected by this flood event, the event has been included in your suburb listing because according to the Bureau of Meteorology river gauge data, a catchment near your suburb recorded a high mark. This event may have affected your suburb. The map on the left shows the catchment area.

Heavy rainfall on the Central Coast from 16 to 20 February produced catastrophic flooding in multiple regions. The damage was centred near the Mackay region with the short coastal streams between Mackay and Bowen reporting record floods. The Pioneer River at Mirani reached a peak of 16.46m. This, and the Mackay level of 9.24m were both new records. At Finch Hatton, 865 mm of rain was reported in 24 hours while at Giru 1m of water flowed through the town. Record floods in the O'Connell River washed away both the Elaroo and Bloomsbury bridges. In northern parts of the Thomson River catchment, severe flooding was reported in the Torrens and Cornish creeks.

The flood caused major damage to roads, railways and other infrastructure. The main northern railway line was washed away. Three lives were lost in the Mackay area, at least 20 homes and a hall were washed away, dozens of cars were overturned and filled with sand, and debris from wrecked buildings was scattered for about 1 kilometre. Many bridge, including the temporary rail bridge at Mirani, were washed away. Damage in Mackay was extremely costly with considerable delay in the repair of roads, bridges and railway lines. A hole 5 metre deep was gouged in one street, a 1 kilometre stretch of railway line washed away and the whole city covered under a blanket of mud.

Foulden, on the Pioneer River just west of Mackay (population 250) was completely destroyed and property owners lost all their possessions. All houses were totally wrecked, three being washed out to sea. Most of the population sought refuse on the roofs of their homes, only to find them being washed away and many narrow escapes from drowning were reported. The flood left great depths of silt which completely covered the town by up to 3 metres. In places only the tops of telephone poles were showing. All communications were cut and cane crops were destroyed.

Flooding at Finch Hatton reached disastrous proportions, wrecking the main street, washing away one home and damaging two hotels and a service station. Traffic disabilities were widespread and communications were badly disrupted. The main northern railway line was washed away at several places, many travellers were stranded and food shortages were reported in some of the isolated towns.

In the Burdekin River catchment, record floods were reported in the Cape, Suttor and Sellheim rivers, even higher than the 1918 floods. Some 90 years old stations were under water for the first time. At Lornesleigh the water reached to the second floor of the station homestead, whilst seven people were marooned on a hilltop for 11 days at Mt Elsie station. Near record flooding in the lower Burdekin caused the evacuation of parts of Ayr and Home Hill.

This event produced remarkably heavy rain over short periods. For example Mt Pelion near Mackay reported 292 mm in 2.5 hours and 589 mm in 6 hours overnight on the 17/18 February 1958. Other rain gauges in the Mt Pelion area overflowed at 30 inches (762 mm) that night. In the same region at Elaroo, 533 mm was recorded in 5 hours before the gauge overflowed. A nearby farm recorded 914 mm in just over 8 hours.