Australia Weather News

The Bruce Highway in north Queensland has been cut after a tropical low dumped more than 200 millimetres on parts of the region overnight.

The highway is unusable between Cardwell and Ingham due to flooding.

Over three hours before 4am, Townsville Airport was hit by 147mm of rain, Palleranda received 146mm and Louisa Creek had 132mm.

Since 9am Tuesday, Toolakea has had 293mm, Bluewater has recorded 284mm, and Cardwell has now had 258mm after receiving 202mm yesterday afternoon.

There are moderate flood warnings for the Herbert and Bohle Rivers, a minor flood warning for the Ross River and flood warnings for the Black River and Bluewater Creek.

For now, communities between Cairns and just south of Townsville remainon alert while a severe weather warning is in place. 

The south-easterly wind surge driving these conditions is expected to weaken late Wednesday, which should bring a reprieve from heavy rain.

But more manageable rainfall totals will be seen elsewhere in Queensland. 

Ingham ready

In the centre of the severe weather warning is Ingham, where 180 properties were severely flood-affected in February.

Hinchinbrook Shire Mayor Ramon Jayo said he was confident that this event would not bring the same devastation as last month.

"There is no [expectation], based on the current forecast, for any houses or properties to be inundated at all," Cr Jayo said.

"We don't get any intervention with our houses and properties until we get to major flooding. 

"The community is apprehensive, but based on the current forecast it is just a matter of staying vigilant."

The Herbert River reached a moderate flood level on Tuesday and was expected to peak without entering a major flood. 

South along the Herbert River and towards the coast Lower Herbert communities may become cut off due to flooded roads. 

Northern Region SES director Daryl Camp said his volunteers were closely monitoring the situation and stood ready to deploy.

Mr Camp said additional volunteers would only be deployed to Ingham if there was a risk of the town being cut off to the south. 

"Most of the flood warnings are for moderate flood levels, which means we should be able to gain access with normal areas," he said. 

"If it gets towards major flooding that is when we start to lose a number of roads mainly around bridges."

Bruce Highway cut

To the north of Ingham the Bruce Highway is cut by floodwaters preventing access to communities further north.

Queensland Rail has closed the train line from Townsville to Cairns due to the severe weather. 

Supermarkets in Queensland's far north were only just being replenished after supply shortages brought on by the impact of Tropical Cyclone Alfred. 

A Woolworths spokesperson said the supermarket chain was "closely monitoring the situation around Ingham".

"We had already factored the scheduled closure of the rail line between Townsville and Cairns in our supply planning," the spokesperson said. 

"We will use alternative road routes north if needed."

The heavy rain at Paluma is challenging crews trying to restore road access after a series of landslips last month. 

Since the February flooding event, Paluma and Hidden Valley residents have had to endure two-hour-long detours to Townsville. 

In Townsville, which is included in the severe weather warning area, sandbags have been made available to residents.