By Christopher Testa, ABC
Heavy rain has caused a landslide on Palm Island, off the Townsville coast. Photo: Supplied / Ergon Energy
Heavy rain is forecast to continue drenching North Queensland for at least another day as thousands flee from floods that have already claimed a life.
Parts of the Townsville region have recorded more than one metre of rain in recent days, and major flooding is expected at Aplin Weir on Sunday night, with the Ross River set to exceed the major flood level (1.8 metres).
Further north, a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for Cairns, Innisfail, Gordonvale, Babinda and Redlynch.
Catchments are at bursting point, roads are swamped and flights have been cancelled as thousands experience power and water cuts.
Essential services such as elective surgery have been put on hold and 100 schools are set to remain closed on Monday.
"We're not expecting the rain to ease on a more broad scale until probably late tomorrow and into Tuesday," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jonathan Howe said.
Residents of six Townsville suburbs were given a midday deadline to leave their homes. Most complied. Photo: ABC North Qld / Lily Nothling
A woman was killed when an SES boat struck a tree and capsized in Ingham, about 110 kilometres north of Townsville at about 9.20am on Sunday.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli revealed the tragic news a day after he said the priority was to emerge from the flooding without any loss of life.
Authorities said the death of the woman, who was not an SES member, would be investigated.
Earlier, emergency crews rescued three people from the roof of a house in Cardwell, about halfway between Cairns and Townsville.
A person was also rescued after becoming trapped in floodwater in the town.
Two men filling sandbags in the rain in Townsville. Photo: ABC / Aaron Kelly
'Black zone' evacuations
In Townsville, a city of almost 200,000 people, police and defence personnel have doorknocked thousands of homes to warn residents at risk of flooding to leave.
Locals in six Townsville suburbs dubbed the "black zone" were told to evacuate by midday.
Townsville Local Disaster Management Group coordinator Zac Dawes said about 10 percent of residents had chosen to stay.
He said modelling suggested up to 1700 of the 2100 homes in the area would be inundated.
At an evacuation centre, Shan Isis said she expected her ground-floor unit to flood.
Rosslea resident Shan Isis left her ground floor unit for an evacuation centre. Photo: ABC North Qld / Georgia Loney
She was worried some elderly residents chose to stay at the unit complex despite the evacuation order.
"One lady is in her 90s and she's lived in Townsville all her life," she said.
"She's refusing to come to the evacuation centre because she believes the floods aren't going to be that bad, and she's seen heaps of floods before."
'Once-in-a-century occurrence'
Wanda Kinnest and her husband were trying to avoid leaving their property, which flooded in 2019, until they were urged to do so on Sunday.
"We were just holding out and holding out, and the police knocked on the door and said, 'You've got to go,'" Kinnest said.
"We're here [at an evacuation centre] with a small bag of clothes and don't know how long we're going to be here."
At Ingham, where rising waters in the Herbert River are combining with torrential rain, conditions are threatening to produce a flood as big as that which occurred in 1967.
Crisafulli, who grew up in the town, said 1967 was "the flood that everyone uses as the benchmark".
"This is a once-in-a-century occurrence for that community and we just need to let them know that we'll be with them in the weeks and months and years ahead," he said.
There has been widespread flooding near Proserpine in the Whitsunday region. Photo: Supplied / CQRescue
Nick Dametto, the state MP for Hinchinbrook, said inundation was occurring "in places we haven't seen water before, or for a very long time".
Cuts to services
Almost 180mm of rain fell in three hours on Sunday afternoon as a severe thunderstorm swept through an area north-west of Townsville, bringing the risk of potentially deadly flash flooding.
An area stretching from Tully to Ayr remains the subject of a severe weather warning.
Howe said while there would be breaks in the rain but there was still a risk of localised heavy falls.
People in Bluewater, 30km from Townsville, were told to leave immediately or seek higher ground just before 3pm (AEST).
Thousands of homes are without power, including in Ingham, where a substation was switched off for public safety due to rising floodwater.
A landslip has also taken out power to the entire township of Palm Island, an Aboriginal community off the Townsville coast.
Weather conditions forced the closure of Townsville Airport at 12.30pm.
It is due to reopen at 5.30am on Monday.
Townsville Hospital and Health Service chief executive Kieran Keyes said the "difficult but important" decision was made to cancel elective surgeries due to expected staffing shortages.
In true north Queensland style, grit, humour and generosity go hand in hand.
The Halifax Hotel has continued to trade and has been hosting emergency service workers and evacuees even though part of the venue is underwater.
Publican Joe Mikuletic said he knew when he took over the venue six months ago that he would eventually endure a flood but hoped it would not be so soon.
"Some of the other long-term guys here have sat at this same bar and drank on bar stools [in] waist-height water," he said.
"So I'm hoping it doesn't get to that stage, to be honest."
This story was originally published by ABC News.
