Hamilton Island cops record rain as plane skips landing, roads overflow

A Qantas plane has aborted its landing on Hamilton Island, and golf carts struggled in the slick as the tropical paradise was hit with more than 300mm of rain in 24 hours. SEE THE VIDEOS

A Qantas plane has aborted its landing on Hamilton Island as the tropical Queensland paradise was hit with more than 300mm of rain in 24 hours, a 24-year record.

A New Zealand councillor Josephine Bartley was among those waiting for the flight to take her back to Sydney to get a connecting flight to Auckland when the plane’s pilot decided it was not safe to land.

Passengers at the airport could be heard exclaiming ‘Oh no’ as the aircraft coming in to touch down aborted the landing to return to the rain-laden skies.

“It was going to be our flight back to Sydney, but couldn’t land due to weather here in Hamilton Island. So we are still here on the island,’’ Ms Bartley said.

“Our flight back to Sydney was cancelled therefore we weren’t able to catch our connecting flights back to Auckland.”

In a post she said she had sent her apologies for council workshops and public engagements.

“Rain is quite heavy so we’re heading back to airport in the morning to see if we get on flights. Grateful though airline decided not to land in unsafe conditions and for airline putting passengers safety first.”

A Qantas spokeswoman said the pilot “opted to abort” the landing of the Sydney to Hamilton Island flight and divert it to Brisbane.

“This is standard procedure that our pilots are highly trained to perform, but we recognise it may have been unsettling for customers”, she said.

“We thank customers for their patience. Safety will also be our first priority.”

A Qantas plane aborts its landing at Hamilton Island after heavy rain.

Customers were provided accommodation and placed on a new flight to Hamilton Island on Wednesday morning.

Marc Lawson was visiting Hamilton Island from Melbourne, landing on Sunday and enjoyed the beach before the wild weather switch up on Tuesday afternoon.
“We still had a good time,” Mr Lawson said.

“Unfortunately yesterday it set in a bit and it was raining most of the time, all through the night.”

Despite the deluge, the Hamilton Island airport was operational on Wednesday with flights appearing to be running on time.

Hamilton Island recorded 321mm of rain from 9am Tuesday to 6am Wednesday, the heaviest 24hr rainfall the island has received since records began in 2001.

Jonathan How, forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology called it “an incredible total”.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected for much of the Mackay region throughout the working week.

“Anywhere between Mackay northwards looks to be the main risk with heavy rain today,” Mr How said.

Monsoon troughs settled across Northern Queensland caused by warm sea surface temperatures are dragging a lot of water from the Coral Sea and onto the Mackay coast, he added.

“These things can pop up quickly and dump more than 100mm in a short period of time”, Mr How said.

“For the next few days just reminding Mackay residents and all over the Whitsunday coast to keep an eye on any thunderstorm warnings.”

Cannonvale recorded 136mm and Lower Gregory 121mm in the same period.

The consistent heavy rain left some students stranded at school for several hours until parents were able to collected them after flooded roadways made some bus routes unsafe.

All students were collected from school by the evening.

Hamilton Island airport celebrated its 40th anniversary in December after its inaugural flight touched down in 1984 to a fanfare of aloha shirts and cocktails.

Meanwhile, SES workers were called out 23 times in Mackay in the past 24 hours after the region was drenched in a deluge with some parts ing 192mm in a few hours.

Rain has so far eased off for Mackay compared to the 192mm that soaked some parts of the region in just a few hours on Tuesday morning resulting in multiple flooded roads including those to the airport and forcing some schools to close.

Although some areas still recorded just under the 100mm mark from 9am Tuesday to 7am Wednesday with Paget copping 98mm, Bakers Creek 94mm, Sucrogen Weir 93mm and Mackay 91mm.

Richmond Rd at Glenella closed due to flooding. Photo taken at 8.20am, February 4 2025. Picture: Luke Lay

Areas like Black Mountain recorded 87mm, South Mackay 84mm and Sarina 82mm.

Queensland Police Service confirmed SES had 280 callouts across the state in the past 24 hours, with 23 of those in the Mackay region – of that state total figure, 45 per cent were flood related, 10 per cent evacuation, 17 per cent replenishing stock, 14 per cent structure (tarping) and three per cent fallen trees.

Mackay Regional Council’s disaster dashboard lists the current road closures, which include:

• Mirani – Leichhardt Rd
• Finch Hatton – Gorge Rd
• North Eton – Marian Eton Road, Kinchant Dam Rd, State Route 5
  
• Calen – Barron Pocket Road, Old Bowen Rd
  
• Mount Charlton – Calen Mount Charlton Rd, Barren Creek Rd
• Kuttabul – Narpi Rd
• Homebush – Palm Tree Rd, Barrie Ln
• Olivers Crossing, Kowari – Gorge Road
• Habana – Neills Rd
• Beaconsfield – Holts Rd, Beaconsfield Rd, Golf Links Rd
• Glenella – Hicks Rd
• Walkerston – Pugsley St

A photo of a dog sitting in the rain in the back of a ute parked on the Airlie Beach main strip on Tuesday.

There are currently 21 roadways in the Whitsunday region impacted because of flooding based on Whitsunday Regional Council’s disaster dashboard – eight of these are closed, while for the remainder motorists are urged to drive with caution or at low speeds.

This comes as another emergency alerts is issued further north for a dangerous, fast-moving flood in the Georgetown area, northwest of Townsville, with residents in the low-lying areas near Etheridge Bridge being told to leave immediately.

North and Far North Queensland has already been ravaged by the relentless weather, with more rain anticipated to come in the coming days.

Originally published as Hamilton Island cops record rain as plane skips landing, roads overflow