Heavy rainfall is expected to continue to soak north Queensland on Monday, pouring more water into dams and rivers that have already overflowed, forcing evacuations and threatening thousands of homes.
Residents of parts of Townsville and nearby towns, including Ingham and Cardwell, spent the night in shelters as rising flood waters inundated their homes.
In some places, more than 1m of rain fell during a 48 hour period.
And with heavy rain predicted to continue until at least Tuesday, authorities are warning the near-record deluge could become more severe than “once in a lifetime” storms five years ago.
Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Dean Narramore said more heavy rain was expected through Monday and into Tuesday, due to a slow-moving, low-pressure system and a monsoonal trough.
“We’re likely to see major to record flooding occur on some of our rivers,” he said.
The heaviest rain has fallen between Lucinda to Townsville in northern Queensland as the Bureau of Meteorology warns the big wet will continue for days.
Nearly one metre of rain was recorded at Paluma Dam in Townsville in the last 48 hours, while Ingham has copped more than 400mm in the last day.
The situation worsened at Cardwell, on the Cassowary Coast, late on Sunday night. Just before midnight, residents were warned about dangerous flooding and advised to move to higher ground.
A woman was killed on Sunday morning during an attempted rescue from flood waters at Ingham north of Townsville.
Guardian Australia understands a rescue boat – carrying five Ingham locals and two State Emergency Service volunteers – hit a tree and capsized. The woman, a resident, was unable to be rescued.
The State Emergency Service was under pressure on Sunday night with 11 swift water rescues and nearly 400 calls for help for leaking ceilings, roof damage, flooding, evacuations and felled trees.
Two people were saved from the roof of their car that was submerged in floodwaters in Woodstock around 7pm, while another person was rescued from a truck stuck in floodwaters in Basalt.
More than 9000 northern Queenslanders remain without power after the Ingham substation was switched off due to floodwaters.
“It’s some of the worst inundation we’ve seen in this beautiful community,” Ergon Energy said.Authorities declared a “black zone” covering six Townsville suburbs near the Ross River: Railway Estate, Hermit Park and Rosslea on the northern bank and Idalia, Cluden and Oonoonba to the south.
Modelling by the Townsville Local Disaster Management group suggested 1,700 homes in the city would be inundated.
Most of the concern was due to predictions of severe heavy rainfall continuing into Monday, including the potential for 300mm in less than six hours. Downpours had been consistent for days and the Ross River dam above the city was already at 142% of its normal capacity.
Authorities have ordered the evacuation of Bluewater, a small seaside community north of Townsville.
At nearby Rollingstone, the Bureau of Meteorology recorded almost a metre of rain – 999mm – from 9am Friday to 9am Sunday.
The same areas were severely inundated during flooding in February 2019. In some places flood waters reached 2 metres high, and many people, particularly in Hermit Park, attempted to wait out the emergency in raised Queenslander-style houses.
The Townsville Local Disaster Management Group said flood waters could go higher this time.
“Flooding to second-storey floors is possible. Single-storey buildings could be fully flooded. It may become too dangerous for emergency services to rescue you,” the group said in a statement.
The chair of the disaster management group, Andrew Robinson, said on Sunday that some residents had chosen to stay behind.
Premier David Crisafulli said he had heard “some comparisons” made by people to the 2019 floods but warned residents they should not be complacent in the belief that event – the worst in 120 years – could not be repeated.
He said the flood disaster rivalled the 1967 emergency that completely submerged Ingham.
“This is a big one,” he told the Nine Network on Monday.
“To put it into perspective the 1967 flood which everybody talks about as the one in 100 years that was about 15.2m.”
Cyclonic-like rain totals have lashed Townsville and surrounding areas, with some places receiving more than 600mm over the past 24 hours.
The fallsfollowed isolated seven-day totals of more than 900mm which hammered the north tropical coast.
Authorities deployed further resources to the state’s north, with the Australian Defence Force assisting on the ground.
