Photo: AFP / BRIAN CASSEY
A New Zealander who has lived in Cairns since the 1990s has described floating livestock and widespread damage in far north Queensland.
Cairns is enduring the worst flooding in more than 100 years.
Hohi Oates was born in Hamilton but moved to Cairns in her teens.
While she and her family are okay, she says others have lost their homes and they don't know when the next food supply will arrive.
"People are losing their houses, their animals. There was a little cattle farm that he's got 40 cows that have been floating down the river, apparently they've been spotted here, they're on a soccer field," Oates said.
"I feel very fortunate that we're here and we're safe and dry. A lot of people have lost their homes.
"[At the airport] there's airplanes underwater, I mean goodness me, I've never seen that before. I've never seen that much rain."
Oates lives with her husband, son and his partner in the heart of Cairns "right where the action is" but the property was elevated from sea level.
They've been through a number of cyclones in the past, though her son's partner from Melbourne hadn't.
"I guess after 30 years of going through quite a few cyclones we were prepared.
"This time for us it was the aftermath of the cyclone going through so it's the ongoing rain, and you're talking about a really heavy deluge of rain non-stop for the last six days - and that's what's causing all of the flooding..."
A sign showing a road closure as Cyclone Jasper approached landfall near Cairns in far north Queensland on 13 December 2023. Photo: AFP
King tides meant when the rain came there was nowhere for it to go, she said.
"I've never seen it this high."
Oates hasn't been at work since Tuesday last week and it was too unsafe to drive anywhere.
She said her family was prepared and were having lots of canned foods while being conscious of how much they were eating.
"Now we're being advised not to drink the water so we're having to fill up bath tubs and jerry cans.
"We're cut off from the main highway so don't know when the next supply of food will arrive."
Photo: AFP / BRIAN CASSEY
As she spoke to RNZ, Oates said it had stopped raining but more was forecast over the coming week.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is advising New Zealanders in Queensland to follow the advice of the local authorities at all times, including any evacuation orders and to seek suitable shelter.
They say visitors and tourists staying in travel accommodation should follow the guidance of hotel or resort management.
Anyone requiring consular assistance is being told to contact the New Zealand High Commission in Canberra.
