© Queensland Police ServiceCedar Road at Palm Cove, north of Cairns, was in full flood on Monday morning.
Cairns has received more than 200 millimetres of rain since 9am yesterday, while Kuranda, to the west of the city, has received more than 300mm.
Several major far-north roads have been closed due to landslides and fallen trees.
A 60-year-old driver became stuck in floodwaters in the Cairns suburb of Clifton Beach just before 7am, but was able to escape the car before help arrived, according to the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service.
Emergency Management Queensland regional director Wayne Coutts said there had been several jobs this morning, mainly leaking roofs.
"The water is rising quickly and people should consider delaying travel if possible and obviously if roads are flooded, forget it," Mr Coutts said.
The Kuranda Range Road that connects Cairns to the Atherton Tablelands was closed early this morning due to fallen trees.
The Rex Range at Julatten, north of Cairns, is also closed due to a landslide.
Weather to move south tomorrow
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a flood watch for coastal catchments all the way from Cooktown in the far north to Cardwell, 500 kilometres south.
A severe weather warning for high tides is also in place for residents living on the coast of western Cape York.
Forecaster Harry Clarke said the wet weather was due to a low in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
"Today will be the heaviest day of rainfall around the north tropical coast and the focus will start to shift to the south from tomorrow towards Ingham and Townsville," Mr Clarke said.
"We've seen a lot of the smaller creeks rise quite quickly and we will see that translate to our bigger rivers."
He said flood warnings were likely to be issued later today.
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