Young girl dies in Queensland floodwaters

A nine-year-old girl has died in floodwaters in far north Queensland.

The girl was swimming at a creek-crossing in Rossville, south of Cooktown, yesterday afternoon when she was swept away by the fast flowing water.

Her body was later found about 400 metres downstream.

The girl's death comes after a severe weather warning was issued for a large area in the north of the state.

The Tully River has already risen by six metres at Euramo after rainfall of between 25 to 130mm across the catchment in the past 24 hours.

The Bureau of Meteorology says further showers are expected and the waters were likely rise to a minor peak of 6.2 metres yesterday.

The forecaster is also warning that rainfall totals of 200-300mm forecast for coastal catchments between Cape Tribulation and Cardwell could cause flash flooding over the weekend.

A flash flood alert has been issued for the Daintree, Mossman, Barron, Mulgrave, Russell, Johnstone and Murray rivers.

Last weekend rainfall of up to 700mm was recorded in some parts of the region after days of heavy downpours.