Australia Weather News

The risk of widespread heavy rainfall has reduced for flood-ravaged north Queensland, but there is still the potential for monsoonal bursts.

Severe weather warnings remain in place from Tully to Ayr.

"This system continues to pack a punch," Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said.

"While the risk of that widespread flooding has reduced, [there is] the prospect of flash flooding because of swollen catchments."

He said rivers were rising and falling, leading to "very volatile" conditions on roads, and urged the public to avoid driving for non-essential purposes.

Senior forecaster Gabriel Branescu said the warning included Townsville, Ingham and Cardwell.

He said there could be falls between 140mm to 200mm in a six-hour period, or up to 250mm in a 24-hour period.

"That thunderstorm … is pushing offshore so there's a little bit of reprieve today, but the conditions are forecast to worsen again later in the day from early evening or late afternoon into the night," Mr Branescu said.

"There is dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding coming with that heavy rainfall."

Monsoon trough weakening

There are major flood warnings in place for the Haughton, Cape, Burdekin, Herbert, Flinders and Murray rivers.

The Burdekin Shire Council has also issued an emergency alert urging people move to higher ground because of major flooding in the Haughton River at Giru.

Mayor Pierina Dalle Cort said that there is the possibility homes "would be inundated again". 

"The area is very wet and everything that comes down is just increasing that amount of water, so be cautious and keep an eye out for updates because it's going to be very busy," Senior forecaster Gabriel Branescu said.

He said a monsoon trough was slowly moving north and weakening, with conditions expected to ease from late Sunday or early Monday.

Mr Branescu said the bulk of Friday night's rainfall was around the Townsville region, with south Townsville receiving falls of 143mm in six hours, Giru 130mm and the Haughton Bridge 108mm.

Townsville resident Trish Harland said it had been a nerve-wracking time.

She and her partner have been actively monitoring levels at the Ross River Dam, which inundated several Townsville suburbs in 2019.

"That's something that would certainly be making a lot of people anxious in black zones," Ms Harland said.

Emergency services and supplies trickle in

SES regional manager Daryl Camp said teams from across the country had travelled to the region to support local crews.

There are 69 SES personnel in Ingham, while there are eight rural firefighters from New South Wales also assisting at Halifax, he said.

At Forrest Beach, east of Ingham, the community joined forces after the town lost power and roads were cut off.

Lisa Scobie owns a takeaway store which has been supplying meals to the public and helping those with health conditions to refrigerate their medicine.

"When we were isolated from town we knew we had to help ourselves because you can't wait for someone to do it," she said.

"We knew we had vulnerable people in our community that were going to need our help."

Emergency services and supplies have been trickling into isolated parts of north Queensland thanks to a temporary fix to Ollera Creek Bridge on the Bruce Highway.

Mr Crisafulli said more than 500 emergency vehicles had used the temporary defence structure, and overnight road technicians had begun filling rocks in missing parts of the bridge.

Subject to weather, crews will establish a road base and put a bitumen seal over it from Saturday night, with hopes the road can reopen to traffic on Tuesday, he added.

All flights in and out of the Whitsunday Coast Airport were cancelled on Friday due to the potential for road closures that would cut access to the terminal.

Charters Towers local disaster management group has put in place a critical water alert and residents are being urged to conserve water.

This includes minimising shower times and only flushing the toilet when needed.

"We had to replenish the reservoir so it was very low … the issue we have now is once the river drops below that intake again, we won't be able to make water," Mayor Liz Schmidt said.

Meanwhile, some locals used a helicopter to fly beer over the flooded Macrossan Bridge on the way to Country Hotel in Charter Towers. 

Rain in the west

It's a different story in outback Queensland, which has welcomed a drenching in recent days.

Allana Knack, on a property north of Aramac, said they had been feeding stock after their pasture took a hit during recent heatwaves.

She said it was a massive relief for the west, but her heart went out to farmers in the north.

In the north-west, river and creek crossings respond quickly to short, intense downpours, spilling over onto roads.

Mount Isa Police Superintendent Tom Armitt said there were a number of road closures across the region.

"Sometimes the preparation or putting up a road barrier won't have occurred by the time the river has gone up over the road," he said.

"Please don't enter flooded roadways … just because barriers don't exist doesn't give you an excuse to go across."

Superintendent Armitt said communities in the Gulf of Carpentaria were cut off for extended period of time every wet season and were well-versed in what to do.