Cyclone Jasper may have been downgraded but relentless rain has caused significant flooding across the Atherton Tablelands, with Telpara HIlls general manager Stephen Pearce devastated many newborn calves are dying due to cold, wet conditions.
Mr Pearce said the heavy coastal trough has caused a great deal of damage to their properties and the family is doing everything they can, but admitted conditions were very serious.
"The biggest challenge is in the breeder groups, we are losing newborn calves as they can't cope with the chill," he said.
"It's also not great for the (birth) cow's condition, being constantly wet.
"We are losing some of the older, weaker cows but hope loss will be minimal."
Fencing and infrastructure has also taken a beating, he said.
"We have lost so much fencing and all the mobs are mixed in," he said.
"Crossings have been washed away and multiple creeks have popped up all over, there's water everywhere."
Mr Pearce said he made it home safely on the tractor so he could celebrate his daughter Violet's ninth birthday, after several days away working in saturated conditions.
In the meantime, he said he will use the time to plan how they will recover once the rain stops.
"Dad, (Trevor Pearce) and my sister Fiona are out on another Telpara Hills property checking cattle and doing what they can.
"I'm flooded in at the moment on my property with my wife Brittany and our family, the rain simply hasn't stopped, on Sunday morning we recorded 782 mm and its been falling all day.
Mr Pearce said a mate who lived on the coast had woken up to a mob of stray cattle in his yard.
"His house is on a 4m high mound and the cattle are there, they are all surrounded by water," he said.
"Now he's trying to find out who the cattle belong to."
The Barron River starts its journey to Cairns on Telpara Hills and Mr Pearce said he was concerned for those living downstream from Lake Tinaroo.
"There's a huge volume of water which goes downstream towards Cairns," he said.
"There's a lot of people who are much worse off than we are."
According to Sunwater which manages the dam, at 4:03 pm on Sunday, its capacity was at 101.53 per cent.
Earlier on Sunday Sunwater posted an alert, "Warning area: Downstream of Tinaroo Falls Dam. Tinaroo Falls Dam will start spilling excess water into the Barron River this afternoon".
"Water flows from Tinaroo Falls Dam may contribute to widespread flooding downstream," the alert said.
"Expect increased river flows in the coming hours.
"There is no immediate danger."
On Sunday Cairns Police issued several alerts urging people to stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.
"A coastal trough linked to ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper is located around Cairns while convergent bands are occurring around Weipa," they posted.
"Very dangerous thunderstorms are likely to produce heavy, locally intense rainfall that may lead to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding over the next several hours in parts of the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands district."
Know more about this issue? Contact Alison Paterson on 0437 861 082.
