Ringer Jessica Bridges turns on the TV at night to fall asleep so she does not have to listen to the rain.
“There’s a lot of anxiety and big emotions in a lot of people’s households,” Ms Bridges said.
“What happened in 2019 was horrible, and to have to live through that more than once in your lifetime … there’s an essence of PTSD.”
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”.
Choppers have taken to the skies to push cattle to higher ground, drop fodder and survey damage. (Supplied: Keely Hughes)
At Gilliat Plains, her family’s cattle station west of Julia Creek, she is exhausted.
“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.
“I’ve heard some horrific stories over on the Julia Creek water course … people that can’t find their cattle at all.”
A road off the Flinders Highway between Julia Creek and Richmond. (Supplied: Keely Hughes )
Potential isolated heavy falls
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said there was still the potential for isolated heavy falls in “already flooded catchments” in the north-west.
Dozens of roads are closed around north west Queensland. (Supplied: Steve Malone)
“It should be much more isolated than we’ve seen over the past several days,” meteorologist Shane Kennedy said.
“There is the potential to see further 15 to 40 millimetres per day with more isolated 50 to 100 millimetres.”
Major flooding is possible at Richmond from late Friday, he said.
Major flooding is also possible at Winton over the weekend with the BOM flagging a major flood warning for the Western River.Â
A week of monsoonal rainfall has caused havoc across the state’s north and north west.
A lightning strike over Cairns on Thursday night. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)
A man in his 70s died at Normanton, a father and daughter were rescued from rising floodwaters near Boulia, communities have been isolated, access has been cut to dozens of roads, including major highways and travellers have been left stranded.
Seven people were also rescued after becoming stranded in floodwaters at Lannercost, near Ingham, about 7pm on Thursday.
Authorities said the people were safely on land but cut-off, when swiftwater rescue crews were called in to retrieve them.
Also in Ingham, Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics treated three people after a house was hit by lightning on George Street on Thursday night.
They’ve since been discharged from hospital.
Meteorological organisation Weatherzone said about 30,000 lightning strikes hit the ground across north Queensland in storms overnight.
Several locations in the north west broke monthly December rainfall records, including Burketown, Normanton, Cloncurry and Julia Creek with 450mm to 550mm.
A station in the Gulf of Carpentaria. (Supplied: Alana Lupton)
Acting Superintendent of the Mount Isa District Paul Austin said while conditions were easing, people should not be complacent.
“We still have a lot of run-off, water moving in river systems at major flood level,” he said.
“We also have quite a few people trapped in some of those smaller towns.”
Remote airports impacted
Cloncurry mayor Greg Campbell said the town’s airport had been “catastrophically damaged” by the intense rain that had fallen over the last week.
Only helicopters can land at the airport at the moment and work is underway on a plan to reopen the airstrip.
Outback airstrips including Cloncurry Airport have suffered damage from intense rainfall. (Supplied: Greg Campbell)
He said the council had been requesting a federal government grant to upgrade the aging strip for the last 18 months.
“It is so frustrating to the point of making me angry, we could’ve had this fixed by now,” Cr Campbell said.
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.
It is unknown when the airport will reopen but restoring access for emergency services will be the priority.Â
Stock count begins
State Disaster Coordinator Chris Stream said he was working closely with the federal government to provide support to affected areas, including for fodder drops.
“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.
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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.
“We’re very lucky — had a fly around yesterday twice and very minimal losses,” he said.
“But the more you go east, the worse it gets.”
He said this flooding event was more isolated than the “widespread devastation” of 2019 but there would still be significant impacts for graziers.
“The area is smaller, but it’s certainly going to be as bad, if not worse, in some places,” he said.
In the Gulf of Carpentaria, Ashley Gallagher said his pilot’s efforts to move cattle hit an unexpected hurdle — crocodiles.
A cattle yard underwater at Sawtell Creek. (Supplied: Ashley Gallagher)
“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.
“He had to leave the cows on the island.”
With more rain around Cloncurry and Julia Creek, Mr Gallagher was worried about what was still to come in the Gulf.
“It’s like geez, we hope this [water] gets away a little bit before that arrives,” he said.
Flood risk not over on east coast
On the coast, a severe weather warning south of Ingham to north of Bowen is likely to continue across the weekend.
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.
Mr Stream said on Thursday there was 182mm of rain recorded at Giru and 156mm at Ayr.
“There were some reports of inundations of houses, so we’re working through that and supporting those people,” he said.
Mr Stream said there had been seven SES call outs overnight, mostly for tarping and sandbagging in the Townsville local government area.
He said an additional 12 crews would be sent to reinforce SES numbers in the city.
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.
“Our sandbagging supplies have been replenished … making sure people have access to sandbags is very important, especially with more rain expected.”
Cr Dametto said the sewerage system had also been partially inundated, and residents should report sewerage overflows.
Residents, including Duncan Fyfe, have had enough.
Duncan Fyfe has been battling water in his basement. (ABC News: Baz Ruddick)
“It’s been absolute hell to be honest because it’s happening again and it’s like Groundhog Day … we just can’t keep getting this water,” he said.
“You’re stressed out overnight, you’re watching the rain, you’re looking at the BOM maps, and it gets emotionally draining.”
The BOM said the system should shift offshore early next week.