A crocodile negotiates a submerged road near Babinda. Picture: North Queensland Wet Season Pictures and Video

Graziers in Queensland’s northwest could be isolated for weeks and thousands of cattle lost as devastating floods continue to ravage the top end of the state, with more rain set to fall over coming days.

Premier David Crisafulli on Wednesday visited the northwest region of Cloncurry, which has seen more than a year’s worth of rain since Christmas Day.

While the system is expected to “slow down” over the next few days, Mr Crisafulli said there was still the prospect of some heavy falls, particularly on the northeast Tropical Coast.

“The many hundreds of millimetres overnight shows that the system is an intense one, and has continued to provide that heavy wet season rain that people in north, far north and northwest Queensland know,” he said.

“But there has been some significant impacts.”

About three dozen roads were “out of action”, and landslips in some parts were compounding recovery efforts, the Premier said, saying his focus was on infrastructure and agriculture.

Many graziers across the ­region were still trying to assess the impact of the floods to their stock, but Mr Crisafulli said there would “no doubt … be impacts”.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli, centre, visits Cloncurry on Wednesday. Picture: Gordon Fuad / Queensland government

McKinlay Shire Council mayor Janene Fegan said she was very concerned for graziers and their stock. “Northwest of our shire, in particular, which is close to the Cloncurry Shire boundary, there’s been a lot of water go through there,” she said.

Ms Fegan said the situation for many graziers was eerily similar to the devastating 2019 floods that saw hundreds of thousands of cattle die.

“(Graziers) are saying it’s similar to 2019, and in some places it’s worse. The only difference is that it doesn’t appear to be as widespread,” she told The Australian.

“There would be at least 20 properties affected, with thousands of cattle predicted to be lost.”

Cloncurry Shire Council mayor Greg Campbell said a couple of windows where it had stopped raining had “given the opportunity for a few graziers to get helicopters in the air”.

“(We’re) still waiting on reports to what damage they found,” he said, adding there was still a lot of water converging to the northeast of Cloncurry, north of Julia Creek. “All that water is going to affect a lot of the properties in that area.”

Despite the heavy rain, Mr Campbell said graziers were still “a little bit optimistic”.

“Rain is still good. We’d rather have rain than none,” he said.

But he said that could change in the days ahead as farmers were finally able to survey their properties for damage.

Farmers in Queensland’s northwest could be isolated for weeks as a low pressure system continues to drench the state’s top end.

The Premier said his primary concern was “the loss of life just outside of Normanton”, which he described as a “deep tragedy” for the entire community.

A man in his 70s was found dead inside a submerged vehicle around 3pm on Tuesday. Authorities said his death was not suspicious, and a report would be prepared for the coroner.

Mr Crisafulli said the community of Normanton would feel the man’s loss deeply.

“During disasters … it’s always about people, and it’s got to be about people above everything else,” he said. “And to experience a loss of life as a result of the flooding is a deep tragedy for the northwest community to lose one of their own.”

On Wednesday, moderate to major flood warnings were in place across north Queensland, with Gulf Country towns Doomadgee, Burketown, Gregory, Normanton, Karumba, Julia Creek and McKinlay cut off.

With more heavy rain forecast, there are concerns that some communities could be isolated for up to a week.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, some areas of the northwest have received their entire average rainfall since Christmas. South Mission Beach and Cowley Beach, on the northeast Tropical Coast, have recorded some of the heaviest falls, with almost a metre of rain.

While the system is expected to ‘slow down’ over the next few days, Mr Crisafulli says there was still the prospect of some heavy falls. Picture: Cloncurry Council

Senior meteorologist Angus Hines said more heavy rain was likely in the days ahead for northwestern Queensland.

“We will still see some wet weather over those central and western districts right through until the weekend,” he said, adding the other area of concern was the northeast Tropical Coast, which has seen some of the heaviest falls.

“When it comes to flooding across the east coast around the north tropics, we’re at the moment seeing minor flooding along the rivers,” Mr Hines said. “But we could see some of these rivers continue to rise with more rain in the forecast.”

As floods hit north Queensland, residents in Djarindjin and Lombadina, in WA’s far north, were cleaning up after ex-Tropical Cyclone Hayley.

The cyclone, which crossed the Kimberley coastline late on Tuesday as a category-3 system, caused significant damage to infrastructure.

Two homes lost roofs, according to the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. In Djarindjin, the community’s basketball court was ripped up by the storm. The cyclone also downed trees and power lines.

Mr Hines said even though the system was no longer a tropical cyclone, it would still bring significant rainfall and strong wind to parts of the Kimberley as it made its way eastwards.