Tropical cyclone Jasper wreaked havoc on certain regions, dumping a year’s worth of rain.
Images show planes stalled on the runway at Cairns Airport and a 2.8m crocodile caught in floodwaters in Ingham.
Due to unfavourable weather conditions, authorities cancelled the evacuation of 300 residents of Wujal Wujal.
So yet, no deaths or missing persons have been recorded.
Authorities predict the flooding to be the worst in the state’s history, and heavy rain is expected to persist for the next 24 hours.
Hundreds of people have been rescued, despite the fact that many homes have been submerged, power and roads have been cut off, and safe drinking water is running low.
Since the start of the weather event, Cairns has received more than 2m (7ft) of rain.
Its airport was closed after planes became trapped due to runway flooding, though authorities claim the waters have already receded.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles told the ABC that the natural disaster was “about the worst I can remember.”
“I have been talking to Cairns locals on the ground… and they say they have never seen anything like it,” he went on to explain.
“For someone from far north Queensland to say that, that is really saying something.”
Evacuations are hampered by rain.
Nine people, including a sick kid, spent the night on the roof of a hospital in the rural village of Wujal Wujal, approximately 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of Cairns after emergency workers were unable to reach them.
The group was transported to a different location on Monday, but Mr Miles claimed he was obliged to cancel the evacuation of the rest of the town owing to terrible weather.
ABC said that another effort would be made on Tuesday morning local time. According to Queensland’s Deputy Commissioner Shane Chelepy, those who remained were “safe and on higher ground.”
He has previously expressed “concerns about drinking water, about sewerage, power and telecommunications, the roads – many of the roads are blocked and we can’t get aerial support in” .
Forecasters predicted that the torrential rain would last most of Monday and coincide with a high tide, exacerbating the impact on low-lying towns.
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Rivers are still flooded and will stay that way for days, even though it is predicted that the rain will start to lessen on Tuesday.
Many locations in far north Queensland have been submerged by flooding, including Cairns Airport.
It is anticipated that a number of rivers may surpass records set during the 1977 flood disaster. For instance, the Daintree River has already surpassed the previous record by two metres, following a day of 820 mm of rain.
According to state officials, the disaster’s cost will exceed A$1 billion (£529 million; $670 million).
In addition to experiencing severe flooding in recent years, eastern Australia is currently experiencing an El Nino weather phenomenon, which is usually linked to catastrophic weather phenomena like cyclones and wildfires.
- How does El Niño affect the weather and what does it mean?
Recent years have seen a number of tragedies strike Australia: a catastrophic drought, bushfires, years of record-breaking flooding, and six huge bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef.
According to the most recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment, unless immediate action is made to stop climate change, future disasters are likely to get worse.
