Widespread, heavy rain causes road chaos, flash flooding across Douglas Shire, Palm Cove and greater Cairns

WET MONDAY

David Gardiner

Journalist

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If it's flooded forget it - Drivers across the region were greeted to flooded roads this morning. Picture: QPS

Heavy rain overnight has caused flooded roads, landslips and rescues, as the deluge caught many people by surprise.

Police say a 60-year-old driver was rescued from a car caught in floodwaters at Yule Avenue in Clifton Beach. The driver was uninjured.

“Police and emergency services are working extremely hard this morning dealing with flooded roads and calls for service. Please assist our crews by not taking risks and driving to the conditions,” QPS posted.

“If it's flooded, forget it, back it up.”

Cedar Road in Palm Cove was one of many local roads flooded in the deluge, Weatherzone reporting more than 150mm.

Port Douglas recorded 84mm overnight, and several roads had water over them with Douglas Shire Council warning of flood hazards on roads including Mossman-Daintree, Shannonvale and Cape Tribulation roads.

The Mossman-Mount Molloy Road was closed due to flooding at Bushy Creek, and is likely to remain closed for some time yet.

The Kennedy Highway on the Kuranda range was a slow-go very early this morning, drivers helping to clear fallen trees – then a landslip closed the Range down both ways, while machines were brought in to clear the debris.

One post gave an idea of the area’s heavy overnight rain: “224mm of rain in my gauge for 24hrs this morning..... Most of it fell overnight. No wonder trees are coming down, thinking a tree has taken out power lines too in Kuranda.”

A Flood Watch remains in place for coastal catchments from Cooktown to Cardwell for the rest of today and tomorrow. The Bureau of Meteorology says with catchments still wet from recent rain, there’s a high chance of flash flooding in some areas.

The latest BoM flood and weather warnings can be found here:http://www.bom.gov.au/qld/warnings/flood/index.shtml

Palm Cove, South of Douglas this morning experienced localised flooding after heavy overnight rainfall. Picture: QPS

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