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, Pallarenda 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.

Earlier, communities between Cairns and just south of Townsville were on alert due to a severe weather warning. 

An updated severe weather warning issued mid-morning said the focus had shifted south of Townsville to the Burdekin Shire. 

Senior meteorologist Matthew Bass said a slow-moving trough had caused significant rainfall overnight across the Herbert and Lower Burdekin districts.

"We've had a slow moving trough that was sitting over the Cardwell and Ingham area yesterday afternoon, during the evening it's moved slowly towards the east along the coast with some decent rainfall around Paluma and Rollingstone," he said.

He said the system was expected to weaken late on Wednesday, which should ease conditions.

"The good news is in terms of the rainfall we are expecting this trough system to weaken out as we get into the latter morning and particularly in the afternoon," he said.

"We should see the wind surge which is really driving the trough system start to weaken out and we should see those rainfall rates ease back across the area."

Flash flooding, swiftwater rescues  

Heavy rain has caused more havoc in Townsville after last month's floods.

Police said homes had been inundated on Stanley Street, where there had been a rockfall. 

Roads are closed across the city  and cars have been flooded at West End, close to the CBD.

Queensland Police said there were nine SES call-outs in the early hours of Wednesday morning related to sand bagging and flooding. 

Swiftwater rescue crews were also called out to assist a car caught in waters in Helens Hill near the Bruce Highway last night. 

A woman in her 90s was pulled from the vehicle and taken to Ingham hospital in a stable condition, while another woman in her 70s was able to free herself. 

Sergeant Julie Cook urged people to avoid flooded roads.

"It's a timely reminder that when we're experiencing this wet weather, it's absolutely not okay to drive onto roads that are covered in water," she said.

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.