Under the cover of darkness, a flood which will go down in Ingham’s history books carved its torrential path through the small town’s streets, taking homes and lives in its wake.

On paper, this month’s flood wasn’t the biggest the small North Queensland town had ever seen. But locals, as stoic as they are, won’t agree with that.

To those who witnessed both, they’ve never seen anything like it.

The flooding was more widespread, more devastating and more deadly - inundating hundreds of homes which have never seen water before, cutting off the town from all sides, and killing two people.

The weather warnings were stark. The community new it was coming when rain blanketed North Queensland. The rain was relentless, dropping 300mm in 24 hours before the disaster.

Local grocery stores closed, catching residents off guard and leaving some with little to no food for what would become days.

By Saturday, people were anxious. The rain hadn’t stopped. Water started to swell in the streets, threatening to burst.

The Herbert River surpassed minor flood levels at 5.30am on February 1. Two hours later it hit moderate flood levels. By 11am, it hit major levels - and it wasn’t stopping.

The people of Ingham are no stranger to flooding, so they did what they always did - picked up what they could carry and took it to higher ground, moved their cars, took bungs out of their boats, and made sure their most treasured possessions were up high.

They’ve been through 10 major floods in 58 years. Locals know the drill. But nothing could have prepared them for the 11th.

Night came and residents went to bed cautious, but not panicked. But around midnight their fears started becoming reality.

Torrents of raging water started to inundate their homes as the Herbert River surpassed 14m by 9pm - all under the cover of darkness.

It came with a vengeance. For those who woke up, it was a race to lift things up higher and higher, but no matter what they did, it wasn’t high enough.

For some, they woke in the early hours of the morning to find their cars swallowed up, their fridges and freezers floating, their treasured belongings destroyed.

But the gravity of this disaster was truly realised when the sun rose.

SUNDAY, 4.25AM: A TOWN UNDERWATER

Ingham was underwater. The main street was a river. The road to the Bruce Highway to the south was a sea. The road out of town to the north was being used by boats, not cars.

Glen Ceff thought he was prepared after going through a major flood in 2009, but no one could have predicted the severity of this event.

“We knew it was approaching Friday, we all started getting things up,” Mr Ceff said.

“We got things up to the 09’ level, above that, and when the water came in about midnight on Saturday it came in pretty quick.

“I woke up at 5am naturally and went downstairs and it was well above the 2009 level and I frantically started putting things higher, but you can only go so high.

“I knew it was a foregoing conclusion and I just had to sit it out.”

In the chaos, Mr Ceff attempted to save his car but the raging floodwaters on Lannercost St were too much.

“When it was peaking I thought I’d try to escape to save the car and I knew I’d get swept away.

“I grabbed the balustrade at the front and it just grabbed me and I was horizontal for a bit, it was ridiculous.

“It took my fence down, the water was trying to escape and it was creating torrents in between houses and it was so bad.”

Stranded residents who stayed in their homes had to be rescued, with SES conducting dozens of evacuations on Sunday morning, including one which turned fatal.

A boat with six people aboard flipped in water near Rutledge St - an area where floodwater was creating intense currents coming off Tyto Wetlands.

A woman thrown overboard never made it out of the churning water - the first life claimed in the floods, leaving the small community even more heartbroken.

But things were about to become worse. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a dangerous flood warning after the gauge at the Ingham Pump Station was forecast to reach 15m by Sunday afternoon.

Residents were stranded in their highset homes, surrounded by water, when the power went out.

INUNDATED: Timelapse below shows how the Ingham flood unfolded over four days to become a 1-in-100 year event.

The substation had flooded along with everywhere else.

The town’s 7000 residents were left in the dark on Sunday morning, unable to cook food, boil the kettle to make a coffee, or charge their phone.

The main arteries of town - McIlwraith St and Townsville Rd - became a highway for tinnies ferrying supplies to stranded family and friends. It was impossible for cars to get around, and many were already underwater.

But the rain kept coming, and the river kept rising. And there was nothing anyone could do, but hope and pray it would stop.

MONDAY, 9.45AM: SWOLLEN RIVER’S FURY

It finally did at 9.45am on Monday morning. The Herbert River peaked at 14.89m - just 31cm below the historic 1967 flood of 15.2m.

Some homes were just centimetres away from having water lapping at their second-storey. Many breathed a small sigh of relief, but they weren’t out of the woods.

They were running out of food, running out of water, and running out of stamina - still completely surrounded by water.

Louise Torrisi and her daughter Lily-Rose lost countless belongings.

“It’s really quite daunting, very scary,” Ms Torrisi said.

“It was the unknown of how high the water was going to come, and when it was going to stop.”

They lost fridges, cupboards, their new bathroom vanity - everything under their house was gone.

“It’s devastating and it’s very stressful and you’re losing all your stuff

“I lost stuff but there’s families in this town that lost their whole house.

“We’re resilient, we don’t have a choice, otherwise we will turn into a blubbering mess.”

Not only did Peggy Popple and her family lose almost everything, they also lost their livelihood.

The young family moved to Ingham just 18 months ago and ran a tow truck company, but when the water came it engulfed their Mcilwraith St property and drowned their main source of income.

“We woke up at 3am and it was well over the tray of the truck,” Ms Popple said.

“It was too late, everything was just washed away.

“It just kept coming up, and up, and up, but we haven’t lost anything compared to other people’s lives.

“It just came so quick there was no warning and the torrent was just insane.”

The severity of this flood was beginning to sink in when it claimed another life on Tuesday morning.

An elderly woman had been found in a cane paddock on her property at Bemerside.

TUESDAY, 11AM: ISOLATED, AT BREAKING POINT

By Tuesday, local grocery stores were preparing to finally open for a limited amount of time.

A mob of hungry and exhausted residents waited at the doors before opening, guarded by police as they entered in small groups.

At the local petrol station, desperate residents lined up with their jerry cans to power their generators but were told they were only allowed 20L each.

Others without generators gathered at the evacuation centre to power their devices, send texts and check-in with loved ones.

The situation had become incredibly dire - when the water went out. No one could shower, flush the toilet, or start their clean-up if lucky enough to have had water recede at their home.

In Angelo Falconieri’s 67 years in Ingham, he had never seen a flood like the one which ripped through his hometown.

Mr Falconieri was raised in North Queensland and was one of very few who were around to witness the historic 1967 flood.

In comparison, this one was much more devastating.

“I’ve seen a lot of floods, this probably came up at the same speed as 1967, the current was just as strong,” he said.

“It’s one of the worst losses I’ve seen since ‘67 as far as vehicles and materials.”

Mr Falconieri’s home on Perkins St sits on the corner of Mcilwraith St - positioned between flood waters coming from Tyto Wetlands and Palm Creek.

He was well-prepared - lifting up all his tools and belongings - but like many others, he was caught off-guard by how high the water would come.

“We’ve got no water, no power, we went through ‘67 and ‘77 and all the floods in between and we had water and power, so this is pretty disappointing with the amount of technology we have now.

“It’s not easy for a lot of people, not being able to flush your toilet or have a shower after you’ve been wading in water because you’re trying to clean up is a bit difficult.”

WEDNESDAY, 9.30AM: HOPE THROUGH THE MUD

By Wednesday, many residents were faced with the reality of their losses. Cars, appliances, homes - gone. The water had started to slowly recede, but it left behind a thick layer of never ending mud.

And despite it all, North Queenslanders didn’t let it show.

Stephen Dametto thought his first watch - one of his most sentimental items - was lost in the floods.

But somehow - although covered in mud - it survived.

The small piece of good news was welcome for Mr Dametto, a gardener, who had lost several essential tools which meant he couldn’t work for weeks.

“I’ve never seen this in Ingham in all my life I’ve been living here,” he said.

“It seemed like the water this time spread out wider in places, people who didn’t get water got water this time.”

In the midst of catastrophe, Kelli and Rickie Liddle are looking for the light in the darkness.

Their home on Boyd St was inundated with 1.8m of water, destroying their furniture, tools, and even floating their pool table - which they’re now playing in knee deep flood water.

“We started preparing last week, on Sunday morning I woke up at 3am and it was already up to the step … you could watch it coming up,” Mrs Liddle said.

“We knew it was going to be a big flood, we’d been through ‘09 which was big, but then you started hearing this was going to be a monster, and it was.

“There’s floodwater in homes that have never had flood water.

“It’s the worst, I don’t want to ever see it again.”

Mrs Liddle and her husband tried their best to lift as much as they could upstairs, but they only had so much room.

“(We lost) everything under the house that we couldn’t physically lift.

“We got the cars, the animals, everyone safe and we just stayed and rode it out.”

Despite the devastation, the Liddles have plenty to look forward to.

“We’ve got each other, just muck in and we’ll get it done, we’ve got a grandbaby coming in eight weeks, I’ve got to get my nursery ready.”

By Wednesday afternoon, people who had lost almost everything were opening their homes to others who had no place to live.

Boaties were taking supplies to the elderly who were too frail to leave their homes. Neighbours offered what they could to help each other, even if they had nothing else to give.

Despite everything they had endured and lost, the people of Ingham will roll up their sleeves and rebuild.