Vulnerable people are being evacuated from an outback town by air amid widespread floods and persistent rain across Queensland's remote northwest.
Small helicopters and planes will be used to airlift elderly people from Burketown near the Gulf of Carpentaria to Mount Isa, about 400km to the south, on Friday.
It's a precautionary step, not a total evacuation, with the Albert River forecast to keep rising over the next two days, a spokeswoman for Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said.
Residents are also keeping a close eye on the river.
"The water is starting to rise a bit quicker at the moment," Marc Adamson, who runs a local plumbing business, told AAP on Friday.
He said the river is still just over the minor flood level and could peak on Sunday, but the mood around town was positive.
"Everyone's fine mate, there's still food and beer at the pub," he said.
Helicopters from nearby properties and businesses will assist with evacuations and police are doorknocking all homes in the township.
In the nearby Indigenous community of Doomadgee, 10 elderly people have also been moved from an aged care home to a hospital as a precaution.
The Nicholson River is approaching the highest ever seen and stormwater is backing up, but as of Friday morning there was no water in the town, the QFES spokeswoman said.
Essential supplies were flown into the stranded community from Cairns on Thursday, with further resupply flights planned.
A number of cattle stations in the Nicholson and Gregory river catchment areas have also been evacuated.
Rain has now eased to showers with isolated thunderstorms across catchments in far northwest Queensland, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
"Widespread daily rainfall totals of 20 to 50mm are possible for the remainder of Friday, with isolated higher totals greater than 80mm possible across the flood watch area," the BoM warning said.
"Rainfall is forecast to contract to the southeast of the state in the coming days."
Some people were also stranded after days of persistent rain, including a group at The Drovers Camp in Camooweal, about 200km west of Mount Isa.
Traffic is now moving to the Northern Territory border, about 14km west, but the Barkly Highway link to Mount Isa remains cut by floodwaters.
Josie Rowlands from The Drovers Camp said the country is "very green, very wet and very soggy", but the rain is welcome.
"It's going to be good because we're going to be at a point when we have no rain," she told AAP.
"I'm never going to say 'no more rain'."
Major flood warnings are in place for the lower Flinders, Nicholson, Gregory and Leichhardt rivers.
A flood watch is in place for the Gulf Country and parts of the Lake Eyre Basin Rivers.
