North Queenslanders evacuated out of their homes as continuing heavy rain causes flooding

Hundreds of residents in north Queensland have been forced out of their homes as flooding persists in Townsville and Ingham.

Transcript

00:00About 400 people here in Townsville and north in Ingham spent the night in evacuation centres.

00:09This school hall here in the Townsville suburb of Heatley was at capacity overnight.

00:14It's filled with residents who've had nowhere else to go during this flood emergency, including

00:19elderly people and young children.

00:22Now all of them have come from what's been deemed the black zone in Townsville.

00:28It's six suburbs, six low-lying Townsville suburbs which authorities have deemed most

00:33at risk of flooding.

00:34Now the people we've spoken to today, many of them feel stuck in limbo as they wait for

00:39news of whether their homes have been affected or will be affected.

00:44Take a listen.

00:45We got out early this time because we didn't want to go the boat and have the army evacuate

00:51us out.

00:52We sleep well but I'm glad that we have shelter and food and water.

00:58Well I've never been in this situation so I found it a little harrowing.

01:02I'm pretty optimistic I think, I always look at the positives, I'm a bit of a survivor

01:07you know, you don't look at what you could encounter or what's going to happen or the

01:11negative stuff.

01:12Some residents here have been told they'll be able to move into motels maybe from this

01:17afternoon or later in the week as they wait to see when they'll be able to return home.

01:23Despite the scenario, the vibe here is relatively high, people are in quite good spirits and

01:29they've been very complimentary of the efforts that staff are going to to keeping them fed

01:35and dry.

01:36Now we've heard from authorities that the flood levels are expected to peak in the black

01:41zone around 7 o'clock tomorrow morning but for many of the residents here it'll be a

01:46longer wait than that before they're able to return home.