Queensland authorities are planning to evacuate an entire town as the flooding emergency in the state’s far north expands.

Premier Steven Miles said a group of nine people, including a seven-year-old child, who had been trapped on the roof of the hospital in Wujal Wujal, north of Cairns, had made it to safety.

“But it now appears likely that we will need to evacuate the entire town of Wujal Wujal. And so agencies are working across government and across levels of government to work out how to do that,” he said in a Monday morning update.

Hundreds of people have been rescued, with the navy assisting, after some areas were hit by almost one metre of rain overnight as ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper brought record flooding.

Wujal Wujal, an Aboriginal community of about 300 residents, is one of the worst-hit areas. It had 260 millimetres of rain overnight but floodwaters were easing on Monday, allowing a rescue party to assist the stranded group.

“Last night, we had an extraordinarily challenging evening, rescuing some 300 people with SES vessels, police assistance, civilian assistance, QFES and naval support, particularly in the areas of Yorkeys Knob and Holloways Beach,” Queensland Police commissioner Katarina Carroll said.

“[There were] also over 300 triple zero calls just to police, and numerous more calls to SES and QFES. Thankfully, we still have not seen any deaths or serious injuries as a result of this event.

“I would suggest in floods that there will be crocs and a lot of other things in the water … I think everyone has to be incredibly careful about being in the water.”

A 2.8-metre saltwater crocodile was spotted swimming in the swollen waters of Palm Creek in the small town of Ingham on Monday.

Seven more people stranded on another roof in Wujal Wujal have also since made it to safety. However, there are seven others on roofs in nearby Degarra, and two stranded at Bloomfield.

There are reports at least one house at Degarra has been swept away by floodwaters, while up to a dozen others are submerged.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe rain warning for Port Douglas, Daintree Village, Wujal Wujal, Cooktown and Hope Vale on Monday. Six-hourly totals of up to 300 millimetres are forecast.

Cairns is no longer included in the warning area.

About 10,000 people remain without power and there have been more than 1000 calls for assistance. Hundreds of people have been evacuated, with HMAS Cairns naval base assisting.

The ADF will send more troops from Townsville while emergency services will be flown to Cairns on Monday.

“We will deliver along with the Queensland government … whatever is necessary,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said of ADF support.

“The important thing at this point in time is to ensure that people are kept safe.

“A number of people are isolated and have needed rescuing from their terrible circumstances so our thoughts go to all people in those communities.”

There are major flood warnings for the Barron, Mossman and Daintree Rivers.

The far north has been inundated due to a trough associated with ex-tropical cyclone Jasper, which is lingering on the peninsula’s west coast.

Yandill near the Daintree has received 684 millimetres since 9am on Sunday while Myola near Mossman had 638 millimetres and Cairns airport 307 millimetres.

Roads to Cairns are cut off and the airport is closed with some planes underwater.

“Some areas have received 1.5 metres to 2 metres of rainfall since we first felt the effects of Tropical Cyclone Jasper,” a bureau of meteorology spokesperson said.

Miles said Cairns locals had told him they had “never seen anything like this”.

“While we were expecting very heavy rainfall in the wake of the cyclone, this is next level,” he said.

“We need people to get themselves to evacuation centres if they’re concerned, if they can’t do so safely they need to contact us and we will get out crews to them as soon as we can.”

Rain is expected to finally ease later on Monday as the ex-cyclone gradually moves north after hovering on the peninsula since first hitting the Queensland coast mid-last week.

“However, we do have several hours of heavy rainfall before the system is able to weaken and move away,” the weather bureau said.

Hundreds of homes are flooded in Cairns where levels have reached record levels “by a substantial amount”, according to James Cook University geo-hydrologist Professor Jonathan Nott.

Cairns airport confirmed via social media on Monday that it would reopen until at least Tuesday.

“We have been onsite since early this morning inspecting the runway, and have held briefings with our airline partners and other key stakeholders. The flooding on the aerodrome has subsided. However, given our proximity to the Barron River, there is significant debris that needs to be removed and cleaned,” the update said.

“We will then be in a position to assess our runway infrastructure, to determine its serviceability. This will take some time. As such, we can confirm that operations will not recommence at Cairns Airport today. Please do not travel to the airport today.

In a further complication, Cairns residents have been told to use water only in emergencies with treatment plants offline. There were reports on Monday that the city had only a few hours’ supply of treated water left.

“Water supply stored in the reservoirs is reaching a critical level and residents are being urged to use water for emergency use only,” a state government warning said.

“Water from the reservoirs is safe to drink and does not need to be boiled.

“The notice to conserve water is likely to remain in place until for the remainder of this week.”

The area was pre-emptively declared a disaster zone last week.

Federal disaster assistance has been extended to more areas to help residents and local councils cover response and reconstruction costs.

-with AAP