Residents of the coastal Queensland city of Bundaberg have been told to evacuate immediately as the region braces for major flooding in the wake of a tropical low.

It comes after days of heavy rain across northern Australia, with parts of the Northern Territory experiencing their worst flooding in decades, and Darwin residents asked to reduce water use after the Darwin River Dam – the city’s major water source – stopped operating due to flooding.

An emergency alert was issued by the Bundaberg local disaster management group ahead of the swollen Burnett River’s expected peak on Tuesday evening.

Bundaberg residents were told on Tuesday afternoon that lives were at risk and were advised to “leave immediately” ahead of major flooding “which will cause property inundation and isolation”.

The Bureau of Meteorology said major flooding of the river at Bundaberg could exceed 7 metres on Tuesday afternoon and rise to 7.5 metres by midnight.

“By 3pm today the bridges will close,” Tom Smith, the Queensland MP for Bundaberg, said in a message to residents on Tuesday morning. “That means you need to make a decision as to where are you going to stay.” He said the Bundaberg Recreational Precinct had been established as a place of refuge.

“Rivers throughout Queensland are running high, with major flooding occurring for at least 15 different rivers as of Tuesday morning,” the BoM said in a statement. “The rain has cleared over the worst affected areas on Monday afternoon and evening, but given how much rain has already fallen, the rivers will stay at elevated levels for some time.”

Tropical low 29U, which had formed in the Coral Sea last week before moving inland, had moved offshore, Daniel Hayes of the BoM said. “All those areas that were seeing very significant weather over the weekend are now much clearer.”

“A very large portion of Queensland is currently in flooding, and most of the state – if they’re not in flooding – they’re still covered by a flood watch,” he said. “Areas that are not currently in flood may move into flood even though the sky has largely cleared.”

Further inland in Mundubbera, the BoM warned that the Burnett was expected to pass the major flood threshold of 18 metres on Tuesday afternoon. Gayndah residents were also urged to take shelter at the local community hall, with a flood emergency warning issued by the North Burnett regional council.

Among Queensland’s highest three-day rainfall totals – from 9am Saturday to 9am Tuesday – were 396mm at Boondooma, 381mm at Marodian, 279mm at Bundaberg South and 263mm at Gympie.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Tuesday urged people in affected communities to prioritise their safety by following flood advice and warnings.

He warned motorists not to drive through flood waters after several people were rescued from inside or on top of their cars, including a child from Bargara near Bundaberg.

“If it’s flooded, forget it – we can’t say it too many times,” he said. “If people follow that advice, we’ll continue to provide support, as we always do, with the state and territory governments.”

Trough over Northern Territory to bring further rain

A trough over the Northern Territory that has brought major flooding to parts of the Top End was likely to “be a feature for a number of days yet”, Hayes said. “We’re likely to have the chance of seeing some heavy rainfall … today [Tuesday] into tomorrow, possibly even right through to the end of the week.”

On Monday evening, Northern Territory water and electricity supplier PowerWater said that Darwin River Dam had stopped operating “due to substantial flooding of the pump station and associated equipment”.

The dam’s spillway had been overflowing since January due to a heavy wet season, PowerWater said, and Monday’s rain pushed the dam to more than 110% capacity.

“This is an unprecedented situation and we have never seen this volume of water in the dam before. Our priority is to restore the pump station and associated equipment as quickly as is safely possible and we are investigating operating the dam with generators.

“While we work on fixing the dam, we’re asking Darwin residents to reduce their water use.”

Preliminary data suggested Darwin’s wet season would be the seventh wettest on record, Hayes said. Katherine, which on Saturday experienced its worst flooding in decades, was on track for its fifth wettest ever wet season.

Across Australia, the 2025-26 summer was the wettest in nearly a decade, according to the BoM, with rainfall 32% higher than average across the country.

Global heating is making Australia more vulnerable to extreme weather and natural disasters, including flash flooding and intense rainfall. In 2025, the third-hottest year on record, global surface air temperatures averaged 1.48C above preindustrial levels. For each 1C of warming, the atmosphere can hold 7% more moisture.

– with AAP