Daintree River flooding: hundreds cut off after deluge breaks peak recordFerry crossing in far-north Queensland closed after 500mm of rain in 24 hours pushed river to highest level in 118 years
Hundreds of people remain cut off after a deluge pushed far-north Queensland’s Daintree River to a record level.
The river peaked at close to 12.6 metres on Saturday night, breaking a record that stood for 118 years.
Ferry infrastructure was severely damaged and authorities said the crossing could be out for two days.
A herd of cows was washed out to sea from upper Daintree village, the ABC reported. Some were found roaming the beach, but others were found washed up, despite efforts to rescue them by people in tinnies and on jetskis.
Almost 500mm of rain fell on the river in 24 hours – 300mm of that in just six hours.
Water charging down the crocodile-infested river
dislodged a ticket booth, ripped a public pontoon from its footings and swept away a water tank at a block of toilets.
“This is a difficult situation ... we ask everyone to be patient as Douglas Shire recovers from widespread monsoonal rain and the biggest Daintree River flood in 118 years,” the mayor, Julia Leu, said.
On Monday morning the monsoon trough that swamped the Daintree area was tracking south, with communities from Ingham to just north of Mackay braced for possible flooding.
There was a severe weather warning for coastal and inland communities that could see six-hour rainfall totals of up to 150mm.
A flood watch was in place for catchments from Innisfail to Proserpine.