Emergency alert issued for Cardwell as north Queensland continues ...

A north Queensland town has been ordered to urgently seek higher ground as floodwaters continue to rise for a third day.

The alert for the Cardwell area, issued shortly after midnight, warned the situation "poses a threat to life and property".

The heavy falls have continued, with pockets receiving more than 500 millimetres for multiple days.

More than 10,000 properties remain without power.

The flood disaster was yesterday marked by the tragic death of a woman who was killed when an SES boat capsized at Ingham

Paluma Dam, north of Townsville has been drenched with 604mm of rain since 9am Sunday morning — it has now had 1316mm in 48 hours.

Critical Bruce Highway bridge collapses

A critical Bruce Highway bridge has collapsed, cutting off stricken parts of north Queensland after being pummelled by more than 1.4 metres of rain.

Part of the Ollera Creek Bridge, north of Townsville, fell into the water on Sunday afternoon.

Hinchinbrook Mayor Ramon Jayo said it was "another disaster" for his town, which is facing its worst flooding in at least 58 years.

The town of Ingham is now without power after the substation was inundated.

Mr Jayo said his community will now rely on supplies arriving by helicopter — a challenge while the rain keeps falling.

Low pressure drives severe weather warnings

The slow-moving low-pressure system continues to drive severe weather warnings, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning that more intense rainfall will lead to "dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding".

The warning area stretches from north of Tully to south of Townsville and west to parts of the Northern Goldfields.

Major flood warnings remain for the Haughton, Herbert, Ross, Bohle, Upper Burdekin and Murray rivers and their catchments.

The Heatley evacuation centre reached capacity on Sunday evening, with evacuees directed to another centre that opened at 8pm at Ignatius Park College.

Matt Bass from the Bureau of Meteorology said the monsoon trough that has brought so much rain and devastation is moving away from Cardwell and back towards Townsville.

He said the Townsville city area would likely face the heaviest falls on Monday.

"I would expect that in the next few hours, we are going to see the rainfall start to pick up again for Townsville city," he said.

Mr Bass said the Herbert River at Ingham was still below its 1967 record of 15.2 metres, but that could change as rain keeps falling.

"We're currently around that 14.8 or 14.9, so about 30cm below that currently," he said.

"But it does depend on the rainfall just for the next few hours. The potential is there."

Flood peak expected on Tuesday

Floodwaters in Townsville are expected to continue rising, with a peak not likely until Tuesday.

Local Disaster Management Group chair Andrew Robinson said the prediction is based on mathematical modelling, but is not set in stone.

"It's affected by a number of different things like storm surge, highest astronomical tide, rainfall and releases from the dam."

The last flood of this catastrophic nature was in 2019, after a slow-moving monsoon dumped a deluge of rain over north Queensland for days.

The Queensland Fire Department said 40 swift water rescues had been conducted in north Queensland in the 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday afternoon.

Supermarket shelves bare as some services put on hold

The Townsville Airport has reopened and is under "normal operations" today according to a spokesperson.

"We recommend that you continue to monitor the status of your flight before travelling to the airport," the spokesperson said.

"If you are driving to or from Townsville Airport, please be careful on the roads."

Meanwhile, Catholic schools are closed for the day and matters in front of Townsville court have been adjourned or reallocated.

Essential services such as elective surgery have been put on hold.

In Townsville, supermarkets are likely to have "empty shelves" for up to a week, with key roads and rail cut off.

North Queensland transport business owner Les Blennerhassett said some road trains meant for Townsville were stranded in Charters Towers.

"You can't do anything when all the roads are closed, so we're just parked up with fridge vans full of food, all the groceries, produce, all that stuff," he said.

He estimates it will be days before the roads reopen and a week before rail freight can go through.

"Your big supermarkets, your Coles and Woolworths, use rail and that's out at this stage," Mr Blennerhassett said.

"So they're in trouble, they'd have empty shelves."