300mm+ of rain in 24h: Daintree Village, Cassowary Coast among regions recording highest rainfall

More than 300mm of rain fell in Daintree Village in 24 hours on Thursday as unbelievable video shows the extent of the flooding.

More than 300mm of rain fell in Daintree Village in 24 hours on Thursday, causing widespread flooding.

Resident Vincent O’Flaherty said it had been raining non-stop with no respite in sight.

He said a house in Barrett Creek on the Mossman Daintree Road was flooded.

“I went to help a woman out who lives opposite the eco village and had water up to her first floor, she lives in a high set house. She is now safe and sound,” he said.

BOM on duty forecaster Danny Johnson said the wet weather in the last week had been concentrated around the Cassowary Coast region with Daintree copping the most rainfall.

Daintree recorded a whopping 300mm+ of rain in 24 hours with the first sign of respite on February 17 at 9am. Picture: Vincent O'Flaherty

“Daintree Village had the most rain in 24 hours, it only briefly stopped at 9am on Thursday. They recorded 304mm in 24 hours,” he said.

Cairns saw more than 100mm of rainfall in the past few days.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Cairns Aero received 33.4mm, 45.6mm and 20mm in the last three days with 41mm of showers on Monday, racking up roughly more than 100mm of rain, which was the most amount of rainfall recorded in a short spell in February so far.

BOM on duty forecaster Danny Johnson said Cairns had a wet weekend ahead but not as wet as they had seen in the past 24 hours.

“For Cairns, totals should be less than 50mm on both days, Saturday and Sunday.”

The last few days have seen more than 100mm of rain in Cairns. French tourists Laurent Paquier, Mael Paquier, 9, Mathilde, 11, and Pauline Paquier enjoy a walk through the rainforest at Crystal Cascades on their holiday to Cairns. Picture: Brendan Radke

At this stage, there were no cyclone warnings on the outlook but showers are expected for the next seven days.

“Temperatures will be cooler on average, around 24C in Cairns, cooler in the Tablelands,” Mr Johnson said.

“Daytime temperatures from Saturday will stay 30C to 31C for the next five days.”

The Bureau of Meteorology reported average levels of rainfall in Cairns for the period of November 2022 to January 2023, but above average figures recorded not far inland.

Downpour in January came to a tremendous total of 393.6mm, not far behind the long term average of 402mm.

While a lot of the heavy rainfall was centred in the north tropical coast, Cape York was not left high and dry in the least with Normanton recording 106mm in 24 hours, according to Mr Johnson.

Cape York resident Michael Namok uploaded drone shots of Cape York. Photo: Facebook/Michael Namok

The Jardine River Ferry, which allows people to access the tip of Cape York and provides an entry point into the Northern Peninsula area, was to open between February 13 and 17 but has been closed due to high water levels, according to the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council (NPARC).

Tour operator Explore Cape York called it a “perfectly normal” occurrence during wet season.

Originally published as 300mm+ of rain in 24h: Daintree Village, Cassowary Coast among regions recording highest rainfall