Hundreds rescued from flooding in northern Queensland

More than 300 people have been rescued from floods in north-eastern Australia, where dozens of residents resorted to clinging on to roofs, officials said.

A second evacuation mission will be launched this morning, with help from the Australian Defence Force, after an initial operation was carried out on Sunday.

Cairns Airport remains closed after more than two metres of rain fell in less than a week, with concerns that the city of 160,000 people will lose drinking water.

While rain was easing in Cairns, severe weather warnings were in place in nearby Port Douglas, Daintree, Cooktown, Wujal Wujal and Hope Vale.

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll described the flooding as “absolutely devastating”.

“Last night, we had an extraordinarily challenging, challenging evening, rescuing some 300 people,” Ms Carroll told reporters.

There were no deaths or serious injuries, she said.

About 13,000 homes across Queensland have lost power, with residents told it may take days to be restored.

All 300 residents of the Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal will be evacuated by helicopter, after nine adults and a seven-year-old child spent hours overnight on a hospital roof, officials said.

The floods, caused by heavy rain after former Tropical Cyclone Jasper, cut off several towns in Australia’s northeast yesterday.

Jasper dumped months’ worth of rain in the far north of Queensland over the weekend, forcing some people to flee their homes and crowd on rooftops to escape quickly rising rivers.

“The problem is the rain won’t stop and until it eases up, we can’t get aerial support into remote places,” the state’s Premier, Steven Miles, told ABC Television.

“We see a lot of natural disasters and this is just about the worst I can remember.”

Jasper was downgraded to a tropical low after leaving a trail of destruction across the state last week.

Cairns, the gateway town to the Great Barrier Reef, received about 600mm of rain over 40 hours through yesterday morning. That is more than triple the December average of 182mm.

All flights from Cairns Airport were cancelled or postponed, with images posted on social media showing planes partially submerged on the tarmac.

Queensland authorities said major flooding was under way in some suburbs of Cairns, about 1,700km north of state capital Brisbane.

“Properties in these areas may continue to experience flooding with the approaching high tide and continued rainfall. Residents should move to higher ground now,” Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said.