Dramatic footage of two elderly men being rescued from floodwaters by police shows the impact of massive rain from tropical lows threatening to turn into a cyclone.
Heavy rain has battered northern Australia, with the deluge to continue into the weekend as multiple tropical lows loom.
The cyclone threat has been downgraded off Cairns but another tropical low in the Gulf of Carpentaria is set to develop in days, ensuring more wet weather for Queensland's far north.
Roads and homes have been flooded after more than 600mm of rain was recorded in north Queensland over three days, sparking multiple rescues.
Police released footage of officers as they raced to evacuate two men - aged 94 and 64 - near Cairns after being hit by flash flooding on Wednesday.
Officers run toward a property and wade into knee-high water to rescue the men.
Some locals have tried to see the lighter side with thunderstorms to move down the coast toward Bowen and Mackay, sparking flash flooding fears.
"It's been quite a few days - we need some flippers," Burdekin Shire Council mayor Pierina Dalle Cort told AAP.
"We've got to look out until about Tuesday - it might subside by then - but then again, we don't know what's coming over from the other side as well so it's a matter of watch this space."
A tropical low off Cairns has sparked the downpour but was expected to move away from the coast over the next three days and was unlikely to intensify into a cyclone.
"The chance of this system becoming a tropical cyclone over the weekend has fallen from 25 per cent and is now back to 15 per cent," the Bureau of Meteorology's Jonathan How said.
But another four tropical lows loom across northern Australia.
A low in the Gulf of Carpentaria had a 25 per cent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone from Sunday, Mr How said.
It is forecast to across the Queensland coast over the weekend, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding between Townsville and Cairns.
It will then track south which will increase rainfall for the northwest including Normanton, Mount Isa and into the Northern Territory.
Another low is expected offshore of Queensland in the Coral Sea with two more off Western Australia.
The tropical low set to develop northwest of WA and another in the Coral Sea's northeast near Vanuatu are "moderate" chances of forming cyclones by Sunday.
Premier David Crisafulli said Queensland would be ready for whatever came next.
"North Queenslanders do disaster preparation better than anyone else in the country," he said.
