Australia Weather News

Flooding is expected to increase in north Queensland on Tuesday as heavy rainfall drenches hundreds of kilometres from the tropical east coast to the outback.

Three flood-related rescues have already taken place in western Queensland, including one incident where a man and his two dogs became stranded between flooded rivers and creeks.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) confirmed a monsoon trough has extended across the north-west and contains an embedded low pressure system located near of Lake Julius, about 70km north-east of Mount Isa.

Drivers urged to be cautious on the roads

TheBruce Highwayfrom the Seymour River Bridge at Bemerside remains closed to all traffic due to heavy rainfall, with drivers warned to expect long delays.

Elsewhere, theLandsborough Highwaybetween Cloncurry and the Flinders Highway and Landsborough Highway intersection to McKinlay remains closed due to flooding, while theFlinders Highwayfrom Cloncurry to Julia Creek and also Richmond to Julia Creek also remains closed to all traffic.

State Disaster Coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Disaster and Emergency Management Chris Stream, said he is awaiting updates on Bruce Hwy

"Department of Transport and Main Roads are monitoring the Bruce Highway closure closely, and will open that as soon as they possibly can," he said.

"Obviously, that's an important produce route."

Deputy Commissioner Stream said the risk has "somewhat reduced" on the tropical coast, but the levels of the Mulgrave, Herbert, Tully, and Bohle rivers are still a concern.

BOM said at 9am there was minor flooding on the Tully River at Euramo, which passed 6 metres and was rising. The Euramo BOM gauge has recorded 162mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9am.

There is a severe weather warning for further rises in the coming days with heavy rainfall in the Tully, Murray, and adjacent catchments.

On the Mulgrave and Russell rivers, the BOM says minor flooding at Peets Bridge and Gordonvale is possible overnight.

It comes as the State Emergency Service (SES) deployed 12 flood boat operators from the south-east to Ingham and Halifax, while additional crews are set to bolster north-west towns.

The SES also conducted multiple call-outs in the 24 hours to 4am on Tuesday, assisting with tarping, sandbagging and fallen trees. The call-outs includes 24 in Cairns, 22 in Townsville, 19 on the Cassowary Coast, 15 in Cloncurry and 10 in Mount Isa.

Meanwhile, underground and surface roads were damaged at a copper mine in North West Queensland following Monday's heavy rain.

A Resources Health and Safety spokesperson said all workers were accounted for after being returned to the surface, and the mine immediately began works to repair the roads.

Residents in Far North Queensland are also impacted by power outages, with 285 people affected inEuluma Creek and Julatten, near Port Douglas, and about 160 people impacted inBramston Beach and Graham Range, south of Cairns.

The BOM's Shane Kennedy said the weather system would "peak" on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"The worst of it is expected to be north of Longreach and closer to the east coast mostly north of Bowen," Mr Kennedy said.

There are currently two severe weather warnings in Queensland, and multiple flood warnings.

Mr Kennedy said the north-west warning, from Kowanyama to Winton, was the more severe of the two with intense rainfall and damaging wind gusts.

Severe weather warnings in place

There was also a severe weather warning for intense rainfall on the north-east coast from about Townsville to north of Innisfail

Heavy rainfall which may lead to flash flooding is forecast for those areas, with two to six-hourly rainfall totals between 80 to 120 mm likely, and isolated falls in excess of 180mm possible.

The areas that may be affected includeTownsville, Palm Island, Ingham, Cardwell, Tully, Rollingstone, Innisfail, Lucinda and Abergowrie.

Heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding is also forecast to continue in parts of theGulf Country, Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders, North West and Central Westforecast districts on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

The bureau warns locally intense rainfall could lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding, with six-hourly rainfall totals of up to 150mm possible for several areas, includingCloncurry, Richmond, Julia Creek and Stamford.

Broadwaterhad recorded 106mm of rain in the three hours to 1:14am on Tuesday.

A major flood warning remains in place for theFlinders River, with flooding occurring at Walkers Bend.

Moderate flood warnings are also current for theCloncurry River, the Norman River, the Diamantina and Western River, and the Georgina River.

A more general flood watch is in place across north-western Queensland and the North Tropical Coast, with communities urged to prepare for potential road closures, community isolation and impacts to livestock.

Parts of north-west Queensland have recorded close to its average annual rainfall in the past week alone.

Cloncurry Airportrecorded 413 millimetres in the seven days up to 9am today, just under its average rainfall of 500 millimetres.

TheCassowary Coastwas hit by 362mm in the 24 hours to 9am, after getting another 369mm the day before.

Mr Kennedy said the tropical low should weaken from Wednesday and start to move south, bringing rain as far south as Windorah by Thursday.

How impacted communities are responding

Cassowary Coast Mayor Teresa Millwood says the council has been repairing landslides in the Bingal Bay area and has reminded residents to be wary in floodwaters.

"We had some warnings from the SES this morning to be vigilant with crocodiles being around," she said.

The BOM's top gauges for the region in the 24 hours to 9am were Cowley Beach with 362mm, Bingil Bay at 344mm, and South Mission Beach with 312mm of rain.

"Most of the community members here have been very resilient, considering the amount of rain that we've had," she said.

Although the Mission Beach communities were cut off for several hours on Monday, she reminded residents not to drive into floodwaters after one motorist had to be rescued from a car at Bingal Bay.

She said there was one report of a home flooding, but said the residents said this was not uncommon for them.

Cr Millwood asked residents to continue reporting fallen trees.

The Cassowary Coast is famous for the large flightless birds which give the shire its name, and they have been active in the wet weather.

"There's been plenty of cases of them crossing here, there, and everywhere. So be careful of them on the road," Cr Millwood said.

A spokesperson for Woolworths in Mission Beach said while the milk supply was short on Monday, it had been topped up.

A bread delivery from Cairns was successful on Tuesday, but a second load of bread from Townsville was unable to make it due to the closure of the Bruce Highway at the Seymour River at Bemerside, 100km north-west of Townsville.

Hinchinbrook Shire Council Mayor Ramon Jayo said travellers journeying north who are stranded in Ingham are welcome to use toilets and showers at the Showgrounds Pavilion.

"Ingham is open for business," he said.

He said the 100mm-plus falls in the region is all part of the normal wet season for the tropical north.

"We've had a very good soaking for our crops, and there's a heap of surface water around," he said.

"We've been very fortunate in that the rain has fallen on our coastal plains."

BOM senior forecaster Daniel Hayes confirmed most of the rain fell offshore overnight.

"But the Innisfail and Ingham areas have topped out again with the bigger falls in the last 24 hours," he said.

"We'll probably start to see an easing of the rain over the land for that north tropical coast area."

While Mr Hayes expected the severe weather warning to be cancelled later on Tuesday, he said it may be replaced with severe thunderstorm and further flood warnings if rainfall intensifies.

But a strong wind warning is still current for the Cairns coast.

SES warns against dangerous driving

The SES said its focus was assisting communities in north-west Queensland.

"I can see Mount Isa and Cloncurry being our two priorities andNormantonandKarumbapretty much isolated by road, they will need crews in there," regional director Daryl Camp said.

"They now have major flooding in their area so we expect the calls for assistance to go up."

Mr Camp begged motorists to follow the "If it's flooded, forget it" messaging.

"One where a person drove into floodwaters and their vehicle stalled … don't drive into flood waters, the car's electrics will fail and you'll get stuck there," he said.

Another rescue he said involved people getting bogged after sightseeing around the stations.

"They're now with one of the station owners and that puts extra stress on the food they've put aside for themselves."

A motorist was also rescued after becoming stuck between Normanton and Croydon, grazier and SES volunteer Ashley Gallagher said.

"He was stuck in the middle of nowhere … luckily they've got a booster tower over there and he's got phone service so that he could ring people."

Outback communities cut off

TheFlinders Highwaylinking Townsville to Cloncurry is cut in several locations, leaving some rural towns isolated.

McKinlay Shire mayor Janene Feegan said her small north-west community ofJulia Creekhad become "an island".

The town has received 140.2mm of rain since 9am on Monday, flooding roads and stranding travellers.

"The wind is probably our biggest concern for graziers. It's howling," Ms Feegan said.

North-west Queensland residents were "very nervous" the heavy rainfall could become livelihood-threatening flooding, similar to what the region experienced in 2019 and 2023.

"In 2019, we all thought it was just a nice bit of rain but then it stayed there," Ms Feegan said.

"So we're all hoping and praying it does move on as anticipated."

Julia Creekgrazier, Patrick Hick, said livestock on his Argle Station have been facing tough conditions, including 60 kilometre an hour winds on Monday.

"We're up to 420mm for the week. Yesterday was a pretty tough day with continuous wind," he said.

"Livestock would have been okay yesterday [Monday], but by the end of today, if we don't see the wind drop right off, the rain stop, and if we don't see an improvement in the weather today, it's going to be really tough on livestock.

"They'll probably be right till late this afternoon, but if they have go through another tough night, that's going to be really hard."

Mr Hick said if conditions do not ease, livestock could start becoming fatigued which leads to them facing the risk of becoming bogged in the black soil.

Wettest town in Australia soaked again

AtTully, dubbed one of the wettest towns in Australia, sugar cane grower Bryce McDonald has measured more than 400 millimetres in his rain gauge over the past few days.

"It's the first time this year I think the rain gauge has been full in one 24-hour period," he said.

He said the heavy rainfall was earlier in the season than expected and made it "impossible to do anything until it dries up".

"It's more February rain than December rain," he said.

"The rain will be a potential yield stopper until the sun comes out again."

While the town about 200 kilometres north of Townsville is still accessible,Tullyresidents are accustomed to being isolated after heavy falls.

Owner of the Tully IGA Craig Teitzel said it had been an "absolute hectic" few days as shoppers stocked up on essentials.

"People tend to panic a little in their buying sprees," Mr Teitzel said.

"It's probably like a Christmas Eve feel to it, there's people lined up everywhere, the trolleys are overflowing."

Mr Teitzel said while he kept a "buffer of stock" for severe weather events, the isolation could make it difficult to keep shelves stocked.

"The rail closes quite often now so that makes it a challenge to everyone in north Queensland because it overloads the roads and makes it difficult for trucks to get to stores," he said.