Rescuers have been left hanging on for their lives after being caught in fast-rising flood waters, as flood evacuees in sodden Townsville nervously wait to see just how far the water will rise.
As soldiers, police and SES workers patrolled the city overnight, two police officers evacuating people in Hermit Park were left clinging to trees for half an hour after their patrol car was washed away. Nearby, two more people were plucked from the roof of their car where they were stranded.
Meanwhile, crocodiles have been spotted in streets and the flood water is teeming with snakes.
With days of more rain ahead, the crisis is far from over and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said forecasters are closely watching the monsoon trough amid fears it could form into a cyclone if it moves off the coast.
"This system, if it moves out to the sea, it could develop into a cyclone," she said on Monday.
"These are early days and we won't know for certain until the next few days."
The Bureau of Meteorology has also warned that tornadoes could form, with gale-force winds seen in Townsville overnight.
The Premier said emergency crews responded to more than 200 calls for help overnight, with about the same number still waiting for help on Monday morning.
About 1000 people were now in evacuation centres, with one of five centres now full. The council will decide of other centres need to open on Monday.
Schools in Townsville remain closed and a decision will be made early on Monday about whether to reopen the city's airport after all flights were cancelled late on Sunday.
The monsoon trough that's been dumping vast amounts of rain on the state's north for a week has rewritten Townsville's record books.
In just seven days, the city copped a staggering 1012mm, eclipsing the previous record of 886mm set on the city's so-called Night of Noah when vast swathes of the city went under back in 1998.
Up to 500 homes in the city have already been inundated and with days of intense rain ahead, there are fears that between 10,000 and 20,000 properties could be at risk.
A day of intense rainfall forced the local council to open the floodgates to Townsville's swollen Ross River Dam after 8pm on Sunday, releasing almost 2000 cubic metres of water per second downriver.
In the space of a few short hours on Sunday, another intense downpour had pushed up water levels in the city's swollen Ross River Dam up by almost 10 per cent, to 237 per cent of capacity.
Townsville City Council has warned that 21 suburbs could be affected by major flooding into Monday and that residents should seek higher ground. The affected suburbs are Rosslea, Hermit Park, Railway Estate, Townsville City, Oonoonba, Idalia, Cluden, West End, Rowes Bay, Garbutt, Aitkenvale, Cranbrook, Currajong, Mysterton, Pimlico, Mundingburra, Douglas, Annandale, Kirwan, Thuringowa Central and South Townsville.
Authorities have pleaded with Townsville residents who are still in their homes to get ready.
"We don't know when this event will end," Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said.
"We cannot give you any certainty about what we are going to need to do into the future."
With water levels at waist and chest height in some suburban streets, local police chief and District Disaster Coordinator Steve Munro said the crisis was only half over.
It's unclear how many homes have been inundated. On Sunday the figure was between 400 and 500, but that was before dam releases were doubled.
"It could move up to the 10,000, 20,000 (mark). That's the worst case scenario we're looking at if things keep going pear-shaped. We don't want to get to that stage," said Mr Munro.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says the state's flood disaster is far from over, and weather forecasters have said between half a metre and a metre of extra rain could fall on the east coast in coming days.
A severe weather warning covers communities from Mackay, on the coast, north to Ingham, and right out west, almost as far as the Northern Territory border.
Major road routes are cut, including the Bruce Highway north and south of Townsville, forcing the state government to shore up food supplies in isolated communities, including Richmond.
Eleven of the state's local government areas have been affected, with five eligible for disaster assistance.
"We have had so many of these natural disasters over a short period of time," the premier told reporters on Sunday, referring to earlier floods and cyclones over the summer months.
"The flooding event is going to cause a lot of distress to a lot of people."
In Townsville, authorities have warned people riding out the disaster that even when the rain stops, it could take days for the water to subside so they can go home.
"We are literally in unchartered territory for this city," Mayor Hill said.
"The real test will be once we hit recovery."
The monsoon trough has brought driving rain to other parts of the state too, including drought-hit communities out west.
At Hughenden, properties are facing inundation and the forecast is for more major falls out there, as far as Mount Isa near the Northern Territory border.
Back on the east coast, communities from Ingham to Mackay, 500km away, are at risk of flash flooding and damaging winds, including the possibility of tornadoes.
