SYDNEY, March 11 (AFP) - Emergency services in Australia's Queensland state evacuated residents from a remote town to higher ground on Saturday (Mar 11), as record-breaking floods sparked by heavy rain lashed the region's northwest.

Fifty-three residents of the isolated Gulf Country town of Burketown, about 2,115km northwest of state capital Brisbane, had been evacuated since heavy rain triggered floods earlier this week, police said Saturday.

Around 100 residents remained in the town, with police set to evacuate more people on Saturday, as the nation's weather forecaster predicted river levels in the area to peak on Sunday.

"We are confident we can move the remaining people if we have to," Superintendent Tom Armitt told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, adding that floodwaters were still rising in the remote area.