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He is based in Townsville, the regional centre of an area known for a rain-drenched, hot, humid wet season from January to March.

Yet the issue with weather influencers, Prof Angus notes, is their tendency to scaremonger, as social media weather forecaster Higgins Storm Chasing, also based in Townsville, has been criticised for.

In Townsville, locals woke to grey skies but only drizzle, and the news that predicted flooding levels did not materialise.

The easing conditions mean people who had been advised to leave six Townsville suburbs may have "dodged a bullet", the premier said, after earlier forecasts had suggested up to 1,700 homes were in danger.

Mr Duric lives across the street from the Ross River – overflowing and fast-moving – in Idalia, one of six suburbs labelled "black zones" in Townsville, one of the areas hardest hit by a flooding emergency in Queensland state in Australia.