North Queensland river breaks 118-year flood record

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North Queensland river breaks 118-year flood record

A north Queensland river reached a new record flood level in more than 100 years after experiencing heavy rainfall that forced the closure of a ferry and left a floating ticket booth behind.

The weather bureau reported the Daintree River at Daintree Village, about 56 kilometres from Port Douglas peaked at 12.6 metres just before midnight on Saturday compared to the previous record of 12.4 metres in 1901.

"The river level is currently at 10.20 metres and falling, with major flooding," a warning said.

"The Daintree River at Daintree Village is expected to fall below the major flood level (nine metres) by Sunday afternoon."

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An emergency alert flood message was sent to residents living in the Daintree River area, including Daintree and Barretts Creek on Saturday night.

Douglas Council advised that properties were likely to experience flooding by water levels higher than in 2014.

While south-east Queensland continues to experience hot weather with temperatures of 30 degrees and higher, the Bureau of Meteorology predicted damaging winds and high risks of heavy rain and flooding to continue to hit far north Queensland due to the monsoon trough.

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Areas affected include north tropical coast and tablelands, Herbert and Lower Burdekin and parts of Peninsula, Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders and central coast and the Whitsundays.

A BoM warning about 5am on Sunday said heavy rainfall and flash flooding extended from far north Queensland to Townsville, Bowen and Charters Towers.

It said there would also likely be heavy rain in the northern Central Coast and Whitsundays overnight Sunday and into Monday morning.

"Through this morning, locally intense rainfall and flooding will remain a risk about the tropical east coast and ranges between about Cape Tribulation and Ingham with six-hourly rainfall totals in excess of 250 millimetres possible," the warning said.

"Locally damaging winds remain possible with any thunderstorms over parts of the warning area north of Townsville through this morning."

A flood watch warning was also in place for areas north of Ayr to Normanton, excluding the far northern Cape York Peninsula north of Weipa.

Locations which may be affected include Townsville, Cairns, Yarrabah, Port Douglas, Palm Island, Ingham, Innisfail, Mareeba, Atherton, Tully, Wujal Wujal, Cardwell, Bowen and Proserpine.

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