Life-threatening floods possible as intense rain lashes North Queensland

Life-threatening floods are possible in parts of North Queensland tonight as a wet weather emergency forces highways and airports to shut.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for Herbert and Lower Burdekin, Central Coast and Whitsundays districts as heavy and locally-intense rainfall is forecast to continue today and tomorrow morning.

With six-hourly rainfall totals reaching 320mm, the showers are feared to lead to "dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding".

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The Bureau currently has several flood warnings in place for parts of the north.

The weather has blocked the Bruce Highway between Mackay and Airlie Beach and between Townsville and Cairns.

Whitsunday Coast Airport was forced to cancel all its afternoon flights and ask travellers not to attempt to access the airport.

The conditions are all thanks to three weather systems converging, which is only set to unleash more rain.

"We could potentially see some very localised, more dangerously heavy rainfall, potentially some areas along the coast seeing as much as 250 millimetres in a six-hour period," the Bureau of Meteorology's Steve Hadley said.

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Those between Ingham and Mackay are in the firing line after already experiencing a wet 24 hours.

"We've already had around 80 to 200 or more millimetres of rainfall across parts of the Mackay area," Hadley said.

"So catchments are very wet, and if we get any heavy rainfall in those areas, it's going to quickly respond with more flooding."

There are fears the falls could lead to major flooding in river systems in the north.

One woman has already been rescued from flood waters near Mareeba.

Disaster management groups across the north have been activated to help residents prepare as authorities urge residents to stay safe.

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