Supplies rushed to flooded north Qld

(AAP) - Flood-ravaged north Queensland residents are preparing for flash floods and king tides.

Just as the floodwaters began receding, a low pressure system travelling south has
dumped heavy rain in the past 24 hours, topping flood levels.
The weather bureau is now predicting the Herbert River in Ingham to rise beyond the
12.2 metre peak that flooded thousands of houses, caused hundreds of evacuations and
cut road access since Monday.
Authorities fear the river could peak to 12.5m at about 9pm (AEDT) on Saturday and
cause major damage to roads and homes.
More heavy rain is expected between Cairns and Mackay on Saturday night and Sunday
morning.
Flooded rivers will fuel king tides expected to hit most of the tropical north coast
during the early hours of Sunday.
King tides have already hit Karumba and Weipa.
Queensland's emergency services and SES volunteers are concentrating on restocking
food and essential supplies to isolated communities and residents in the worst
flooded affected town of Ingham, north of Townsville.
A department of emergency services spokeswoman said the rising floods have prevented
hundreds of people from returning to their homes, but said there had been no
emergency or further evacuations.
She said the biggest concern now was resupplies.
"We're hoping there won't be any more rain in the catchment area," she said.
"We're monitoring the situation and getting essentials out to people.
A Qantas freighter will fly 15 tonnes of food and essentials to north Queensland on
Saturday night, arriving in Cairns around 1am (AEST) on Sunday.
Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) helicopters and other helicopter companies are
continuing resupply operations to several areas in the Ingham district.
Recent rainfall has included 357mm at Fisher Creek and 285mm at Nerada, both near
Innisfail, since 9am (AEST) on Friday.
Heavy rainfall was recorded in Ingham on Friday night with more than 130mm falling
in the middle reaches of the Herbert River.