‘Do not return’: Dangerous flood waters yet to peak after 1200mm deluge
North Queenslanders forced to flee their homes in fear of potentially deadly flooding are bracing for rising rivers to peak on Tuesday, after 1200mm of rain lashed the region.
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North Queenslanders forced to flee their homes in fear of potentially deadly flooding are bracing for rising rivers to peak on Tuesday, after as much as 1.2m of rain fell across the region.
It comes as Premier David Crisafulli flew into Townsville on Monday afternoon to help facilitate service delivery across impacted areas, including hardest hit Ingham where a woman died in floodwaters on Sunday.
Between Cardwell and Townsville, up to 1200mm of rain has fallen in some parts since Friday, washing out the Bruce Highway and seeing SES respond to more than 500 calls since Saturday night.
Despite rain predicted to ease over the coming days, meteorologist Dean Narramore warned flooding could continue and rivers could keep rising.
“We could see isolated falls up to 300mm over the next 42 to 72 hours that could fall on those already flooded catchments,” Mr Narramore said.
Thousands of Townsville residents in at-risk “black zones” were ordered to leave their homes on Saturday, with up to 1700 homes in those areas predicted to be impacted by flooding.
But many locals ignored the warnings and went back to their homes on Monday, prompting authorities to issue alerts it was not safe to return.
Townsville Local Disaster Management Group chairman Andrew Robinson said the Ross River was expected to peak on Tuesday morning.
“It’s extremely important that residents don’t return to the black zone purely because the fact we have not reached the highest flood level which should be about tomorrow (Tuesday) early morning.
“We don’t know exactly what the weather will do. We are still working on our best estimates but mother nature; she can be pretty fickle and change on a dime.”
In Ingham, dozens of people had to be rescued from their homes on Sunday night as water levels rose, inundated homes, cut power and isolated the town.
Raging floodwaters have also completely cut off the area, after the Bruce Highway was washed away at Ollera Creek Bridge, north of Townsville.
The Herbert River in Ingham was 0.35m below its record height in 1967.
Burdekin River at Sellheim peaked at 19.14 metres earlier on Monday, surpassing the previous record of 18.47m.
Mr Crisafulli – who had a disaster briefing in Townsville at 5pm Monday night – was flanked by Police Minister Dan Purdie and Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski when he met with local councillors and MPs about the response going forward.
“It’s important that I make sure that things that need to be delivered are delivered, and by being around that can occur,” he said.
“And I want those communities to know that they matter to us. We are a really proud state, and part of that is how decentralised we are.
“And these communities form a really important part of the fabric of who we are.”
Townsville’s Ross River Dam has been automatically releasing water since Friday and sat at 174 per cent capacity on Monday afternoon. The timing of these releases will be assessed.
Townsville Acting Mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said things were different this time.
“2019 was a very different disaster, in the sense that we had a lot of rain over the catchment in the dam whereas (in 2025) there has been widespread rainfall throughout the city,” she said.
“In terms of response and recovery, in terms of disaster management, it is up there with 2019 and could be worse, we’re not quite sure yet.”
Premier David Crisafulli has received a briefing from the health minister about potential health dangers in North Queensland floodwaters.
“We’ve just received a briefing from the health minister as part of this … and that is something that we’re going to be speaking quite a bit about in the next 24 hours,” Mr Crisafulli said.
Mr Crisafulli said the region had seen a break in the rain, but warned the flooding risk was still apparent.
“But looking at modelling, and the Bureau says that there is still the prospect of rain, and so we have to prepare for that,” he said.
“The best case scenario could be a minimal amount of homes inundated, that would be an amazing achievement, considering we are staring down the barrel of seeing 1700, but until we see what happens overnight, we’re not out of the woods.”
He plans to spend time in the Townsville region before heading to Ingham.
“I’m in no rush to go back south, this is where our priority is.”
Ingham residents say the flooding ripping through the town are some of the worst they have ever seen.
The community is bearing the brunt of a days-long deluge that has smashed parts of North Queensland with up to 1.2m of rain.
By Monday afternoon, 119 people had registered at the evacuation centre at Ingham State High School.
Hinchinbrook Community Support Centre chief executive Linda McClelland said in the 35 years she has lived in the area shehas never seen flooding this bad.
“I’ve seen a lot of floods come through our district, and none parallel to this one,” she said.
“When we talk about the yardstick of floods, we talk about the 1967 big flood, this one has exceeded that one.
“So it’s caught the community, even the locals aren’t aware, because they prepared for what would be a normal flood, and this has exceeded that.”
She said it was already quite fatiguing for a number of members of the community.
“Now the community doesn’t have access to any power. And slowly, people’s phones are running out, their fridges have turned off, and they’re starting to lose contact with the outside world.”
Ms McClelland said the Hinchinbrook Community Centre was among those impacted very badly.
“We’ve had workspaces go underwater, quite significantly,” she said.
“We’ve lost most of our vehicle fleet. I’ve got staff cut off all over the district and even through to Townsville and Magnetic Island
Ms McClelland said her organisation was reflective of the whole community who were “struggling to survive” at the moment.
Jackie West off from Ingham said she woke up on Monday morning to about 50 centimetres of water throughout her Ingham home, destroying her kitchen, dining room, lounge room and laundry.
“We’ve lived here since 2009, we actually moved from a house we were renting
that got flooded in the 2009 humungous, big floods, and we thought we’d move to somewhere that was flood free,” she said.
“This is phenomenal. I’m a local girl, I’ve never seen, and even people that have been here longer on this earth than me, have never seen water in places that it’s in at the moment, it is just horrendous.”
Ms West off said they were a bit worried it’s not over.
“We just launched a claim through our insurance. Thank God we are insured. They’ve said, they said, your house at the moment is not liveable,” she said.
“They said we don’t have power, we can’t cook, you can’t shower, but there’s nowhere for us to go.
“So as much as I’m concerned that there’s nowhere for us to go, there’s nowhere for Ingham to go.”
She said the town was very eerie. .
“If we knew it was over, then we knew we would have to clean up and get back to life,” she said.
“But it’s the not knowing that’s the hardest.”
A woman living with disability, who only wanted to be known as Cat, said she had been left emotionally scarred after a longwait for rescue as floodwaters lapped at her thighs of her one-storey home in Dutton Street.
“I started ringing at 6.30am in the morning (Sunday) and by 2.30pm, they finally got here but I had to ring four times with no response.”
She shares the home with her 86-year-old mother.
“I was crying, I was hysterical, I even had someone hang up on me when I called triple-0, they said ‘we’re busy’.”
Cat said it was time to “bring in the Army” to help with rescue efforts.
She said the floodwaters were severe and “hit so fast”.
Jeremy Dametto, a relative of Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto, said he and his family, including wife and kids, were forced to evacuate from Palmer Street late on Sunday night.
“The house was starting to lift (in the floodwaters).”
He said the water was so high it was reaching the second level of the house.
Mr Dametto said his family was allowed into the Hinchinbrook Shire Council building but he was barred as he had a dog.
He said he slept on a public bench outside the council building on flooded Lannercost Street.
“It was a bit hard, a bit cold.”
Mr Dametto said he was hoping to relocate to the evacuation centre on Monday but was still awaiting transport through the flooded water along Palm Terrace and McIlwraith Street.
While closer to Townsville, Hermit Park resident Ross Bennett had endured the 2019 floods where waters rose within a matter of hours and inundated underneath his high-set home.
Six years on from the devastating disaster, Mr Bennett said the difference this time was that they were well prepared.
“The river is coming up but very slowly, I think we will be fine at the moment, but will know by high tide today,” he said.
“We never got any warning in 2019, it just turned up in the street, we were under for seven days here, within a couple of hours we were all under.
“We were well and truly under here, it was well over the fence.
“We’ve had heaps of warning, heaps of preparation this time.”
Mr Bennett’s street had started to fill with water but their yard and under their home was so far unscathed.
Pimlico resident Brian Murphy, who has lived in the area for 44 years, was one of many homeowners who had water creeping closer to their properties.
Mr Murphy had decided to stay in his home and wait out the weather.
“I think I might get away with it, the worst was Night of Noah in 1998, we had 60cm come through, it was just about up to the windowsills,” Mr Murphy said. “I’m not too concerned. I thought it was going to go up Friday night. It’s definitely not the worst I’ve seen it.”
Disaster assistance payments have been offered for impacted residents in Gordonvale, Hinchinbrook, Palm Island, Tablelands, Townsville, Burdekin and Cassowary Coast, which are aimed to cover emergency essentials such Queensland Minister for Disaster Recovery Ann Leahy said the federal and state governments were prepared to offer more support when flooding subsided and damage costs were revealed.
Mr Crisafulli said it was “very early days” to estimate the damage bill for the region, and said focus would be on people’s safety.
“And then we rebuild, but rebuild we will, and I’m determined to make sure we rebuild to a standard that makes those communities more resilient for the next disaster.”
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