Australia Weather News

An emergency flood alert has been issued for residents on Queensland's Fraser Coast after the region was smashed by heavy rain. 

Police made an emergency declaration under the Public Safety Preservation after Hervey Bay copped more than 300 millimetres of rain since this morning, triggering flash flooding across the region.

An exclusion zone is in place and residents in Hervey Bay have been ordered to remain indoors and avoid driving unless necessary.

Emergency services have received multiple reports of motorists stranded in floodwaters and floodwaters affecting homes.

The deluge north of Brisbane comes as south-east Queensland continues to grapple with the movements of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Many thought the worst was over, but ex-Cyclone Alfred continues to cause widespread problems with transport, telecommunications, power and essential services.

The State Emergency Service said it has received about 100 calls this morning across the Fraser Coast region, mostly about water reaching properties.

"Additional crews are being sent from Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg, the Central Region and Gympie to assist," deputy local controller Phil Holden said.

A Queensland Police spokesperson said while they have had "multiple" calls this morning to flood-related jobs, none of the calls have been life-threatening.

A severe weather warning for heavy rain and intense wind is in place, and the Fraser Coast Regional Council urged residents to stay indoors.

"It's a very dangerous situation right now," Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour said.

"People woke up at 4am this morning to heavy rain and it hasn't stopped.

"We haven't been able to do assessments yet of the roads, so stay home where you can."

Torquay resident Regina Bruce said she has lived in Hervey Bay for 12 years and said the intense rainfall was "unreal".

"We have never seen so much rain in such a short amount of time," she said.

Fraser Coast Holiday Park manager Natalie O'Neill said the wild weather came as a shock.

"We had a couple of caravans go under, it's pretty crazy, it just came down quick and heavy," she said. 

"I had guests extending their stay here because they didn't want to go back to the Gold Coast, and then we get up this morning and it's just been chaos."

The Maryborough District Disaster Management Group has moved this morning to "stand up" status and a District Coordination Centre is being set up at the Maryborough Police Station.

Ex-TC Alfred felt across state

The Bureau of Meteorology said the system hovering over the Fraser Coast and dumping these falls is associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

"These pockets were on the cards and that's what we saw," meteorologist Patch Clapp said.

"Up to 9am, Hervey Bay recorded 261 millimetres of rain, and the nearby Ghost Hill recorded 139mm … those were the 24-hour falls, they continue to tick upwards."

Mr Clapp said the weather remained a watch-point across the entire south-east corner of the state.

"The severe weather warning covers the possibility of further heavy and locally intense rainfall and potentially damaging winds," he said.

"That extends across K'gari, southern parts of the Wide Bay and Burnett, the south-east coast as well as out into the eastern parts of the Darling Downs and down through the Granite Belt."

Further afield, a major flood warning is in place for the Bremer River and a creek at Ipswich, as well the Logan River in the Scenic Rim, and creeks in the Lockyer Valley.

Premier David Crisafulli said about 2,000 staff from Energex and Ergon are working to reconnect power across south-east Queensland.

"There's about 320,000 [to] 330,000 homes and businesses still without power," he said.

"That's despite the fact that over the course of this event they've connected about 100,000."

The premier said he would give another update on schools, public transport and elective surgeries later this afternoon.

Some grocery stores have reopened their doors in Brisbane, but lines are out the door.

"We have taken a store-by-store approach to reopening based on safe access to stores, continuing weather conditions, any impact to the stores and their operations, team member availability and the advice of local authorities," a Woolworths spokesperson said.