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Yesterday, torrential rain closed roads across the Far North, leaving no way out of Cairns except by plane or boat.

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More than 440mm of rainfall was recorded at Port Douglas in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday morning, with falls of more than 200mm recorded at Gordonvale and Kuranda.

The Cairns weather bureau said while rain on the Tableland was easing, more heavy falls were expected in Mossman, Port Douglas and the Daintree this afternoon. 

"The heavier rainfall is really just today," forecaster Gordon Banks said yesterday.

"As long as we don`t get more heavy falls the river levels will start to drop."

The Bureau of Meteorology website showed several bridges in the region were up to 8m under water yesterday, with major flooding at Myola, Clohesy River, and Mareeba.

Overnight yesterday about 160mm of rain fell in the weather bureau's gauge at Low Isles, the closest official station to Port Douglas and Mossman.

But forecasters believe the towns could have copped as much as 100mm more, most of it in a furious three-hour spell in the morning.

They are predicting more heavy rain today and for most of the week. "It wouldn’t surprise me if there was in excess of 250mm," meteorologist Gordon Banks said. "You'd almost call it extreme rainfall."

Port Douglas resident Ian McCormack said he was amazed by the level of water.

"I've lived here for 37 years and I've never seen this place fall apart so quickly under so much water," he said.

"People have been telling me the road outside the Post Office has collapsed and there is a couple of feet worth of water in their houses. But I built this house 16 to 17 years ago and we've survived so far."

Jenny Rowell said she now faced the task of clearing mud and water out of her flooded home today.

"When we got home from work, there was about three inches (75mm) of water in the house," she said. "Later, there was more than 18 inches (450mm) of water in there."

Emergency Management Queensland regional director Wayne Coutts said his department and the Douglas Shire Council recorded about 50 jobs in the area.

State Emergency Services volunteers, including Cairns crews, were called to sandbag homes and businesses.

Much of the flooding was caused by the wash-off from Flagstaff Hill above Port Douglas’s town centre.

"It's pouring down, hitting that hill and just washing down," Mr Coutts said.

"It was running down the hill in sheets and backing up as it hit the gutters and streets."

Landslides blocked the Captain Cook Highway near Oak Beach and the Rex Range road between Mossman and Mt Molloy, which remained closed all yesterday and police are unsure when it will be usable.

Queensland Roads workers and police spent much of the day clearing up the debris.

Fast moving water also closed the Captain Cook Highway between Port Douglas and Mossman, while the Bruce Highway at Tully was covered in water last night.

A small landslide also blocked off part of the Kuranda Range road, near the Henry Ross Lookout, about 8.30pm yesterday.

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