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<\/p>\nRinger Jessica Bridges turns on the TV at night to fall asleep so she does not have to listen to the rain.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of anxiety and big emotions in a lot of people’s households,” Ms Bridges said.<\/p>\n
“What happened in 2019 was horrible, and to have to live through that more than once in your lifetime \u2026 there’s an essence of PTSD.”<\/p>\n
As rain eases in the north west as a weakening tropical low tracks south, Ms Bridges said “there’s still a lot of water to come down the channels”.<\/p>\n
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Choppers have taken to the skies to push cattle to higher ground, drop fodder and survey damage.\u00a0 (Supplied: Keely Hughes)<\/p>\n
At Gilliat Plains, her family’s cattle station west of Julia Creek, she is exhausted.<\/p>\n
“Lots of people are asking if we know what kind of damages or losses we’ve got, but I think the thing is, there could be a hundred cows there yesterday and none today.<\/p>\n
“I’ve heard some horrific stories over on the Julia Creek water course \u2026 people that can’t find their cattle at all.”<\/p>\n
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A road off the Flinders Highway between Julia Creek and Richmond.\u00a0 (Supplied: Keely Hughes\u00a0)<\/p>\n
Potential isolated heavy falls<\/p>\n
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said there was still the potential for isolated heavy falls in “already flooded catchments” in the north-west.<\/p>\n
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Dozens of roads are closed around north west Queensland.\u00a0 (Supplied: Steve Malone)<\/p>\n
“It should be much more isolated than we’ve seen over the past several days,” meteorologist Shane Kennedy said.<\/p>\n
“There is the potential to see further 15 to 40 millimetres per day with more isolated 50 to 100 millimetres.”<\/p>\n
Major flooding is possible at Richmond from late Friday, he said.<\/p>\n
Major flooding is also possible at Winton over the weekend with the BOM flagging a major flood warning for the Western River.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A week of monsoonal rainfall has caused havoc across the state’s north and north west.<\/p>\n
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A lightning strike over Cairns on Thursday night. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)<\/p>\n
A man in his 70s died at Normanton<\/a>, a father and daughter were rescued from rising floodwaters near Boulia<\/a>, communities have been isolated, access has been cut to dozens of roads, including major highways and travellers have been left stranded.<\/p>\n Seven people were also rescued after becoming stranded in floodwaters at Lannercost, near Ingham, about 7pm on Thursday.<\/p>\n Authorities said the people were safely on land but cut-off, when swiftwater rescue crews were called in to retrieve them.<\/p>\n Also in Ingham, Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics treated three people after a house was hit by lightning on George Street on Thursday night.<\/p>\n They’ve since been discharged from hospital.<\/p>\n Meteorological organisation Weatherzone said about 30,000 lightning strikes hit the ground across north Queensland in storms overnight.<\/p>\n Several locations in the north west broke monthly December rainfall records, including Burketown, Normanton, Cloncurry and Julia Creek with 450mm to 550mm.<\/p>\n A station in the Gulf of Carpentaria.\u00a0 (Supplied: Alana Lupton)<\/p>\n Acting Superintendent of the Mount Isa District Paul Austin said while conditions were easing, people should not be complacent.<\/p>\n “We still have a lot of run-off, water moving in river systems at major flood level,” he said.<\/p>\n “We also have quite a few people trapped in some of those smaller towns.”<\/p>\n Remote airports impacted<\/p>\n Cloncurry mayor Greg Campbell said the town’s airport had been “catastrophically damaged” by the intense rain that had fallen over the last week.<\/p>\n Only helicopters can land at the airport at the moment and work is underway on a plan to reopen the airstrip.<\/p>\n Outback airstrips including Cloncurry Airport have suffered damage from intense rainfall. (Supplied: Greg Campbell)<\/p>\n He said the council had been requesting a federal government grant to upgrade the aging strip for the last 18 months.<\/p>\n “It is so frustrating to the point of making me angry, we could’ve had this fixed by now,” Cr Campbell said.<\/p>\n He said the airport was a vital piece of infrastructure, which served the entire region during the wet season when roads were cut by floodwaters.<\/p>\n It is unknown when the airport will reopen but restoring access for emergency services will be the priority.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stock count begins<\/p>\n State Disaster Coordinator Chris Stream said he was working closely with the federal government to provide support to affected areas, including for fodder drops.<\/p>\n “Landholders, graziers are telling us they don’t have an accurate indication of the loss of stock but certainly in some areas it is worse than 2019,” he said.<\/p>\n Loading…<\/p>\n Grazier Paul Hacon said initial checks of his property, 90 kilometres north of Cloncurry, were promising but he knew others who would not be as fortunate.<\/p>\n “We’re very lucky \u2014 had a fly around yesterday twice and very minimal losses,” he said.<\/p>\n “But the more you go east, the worse it gets.”<\/p>\n He said this flooding event was more isolated than the “widespread devastation” of 2019 but there would still be significant impacts for graziers.<\/p>\n “The area is smaller, but it’s certainly going to be as bad, if not worse, in some places,” he said.<\/p>\n In the Gulf of Carpentaria, Ashley Gallagher said his pilot’s efforts to move cattle hit an unexpected hurdle \u2014 crocodiles.<\/p>\n A cattle yard underwater at Sawtell Creek.\u00a0 (Supplied: Ashley Gallagher)<\/p>\n “He went to shift some cows off a ridge, and when they walked into the water, there was a hell of a commotion, and they all shot back under the helicopter, and he said there was four big salties in the water,” Mr Gallagher said.<\/p>\n “He had to leave the cows on the island.”<\/p>\n With more rain around Cloncurry and Julia Creek, Mr Gallagher was worried about what was still to come in the Gulf.<\/p>\n “It’s like geez, we hope this [water] gets away a little bit before that arrives,” he said.<\/p>\n Flood risk not over on east coast<\/p>\n On the coast, a severe weather warning south of Ingham to north of Bowen is likely to continue across the weekend.<\/p>\n Onshore winds are colliding over the north east coast and bringing more rain with heavy falls possible around Townsville, the BOM’s Mr Kennedy said.<\/p>\n Mr Stream said on Thursday there was 182mm of rain recorded at Giru and 156mm at Ayr.<\/p>\n “There were some reports of inundations of houses, so we’re working through that and supporting those people,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Stream said there had been seven SES call outs overnight, mostly for tarping and sandbagging in the Townsville local government area.<\/p>\n He said an additional 12 crews would be sent to reinforce SES numbers in the city.<\/p>\n Townsville Mayor Nick Dametto said there had been a reprieve in the past 24 hours, however a king tide of more than 3.9 metres was affecting low lying areas.<\/p>\n “Our sandbagging supplies have been replenished \u2026 making sure people have access to sandbags is very important, especially with more rain expected.”<\/p>\n Cr Dametto said the sewerage system had also been partially inundated, and residents should report sewerage overflows.<\/p>\n Residents, including Duncan Fyfe, have had enough.<\/p>\n Duncan Fyfe has been battling water in his basement.\u00a0 (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)<\/p>\n “It’s been absolute hell to be honest because it’s happening again and it’s like Groundhog Day \u2026 we just can’t keep getting this water,” he said.<\/p>\n “You’re stressed out overnight, you’re watching the rain, you’re looking at the BOM maps, and it gets emotionally draining.”<\/p>\n The BOM said the system should shift offshore early next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ringer Jessica Bridges turns on the TV at night to fall asleep so she does not have 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