Australia Weather News

Residents in Queensland's Hervey Bay have been ordered to stay inside after the region was smashed by heavy rain. 

Police made an emergency declaration under the Public Safety Preservation Act after parts of the Fraser Coast copped more than 300 millimetres of rain this morning, triggering flash flooding.

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 grapples with the movements of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, which continues to cause widespread problems with transport, telecommunications, power and essential services.

Acting Police Commissioner Shane Chelepy said authorities responded to several life-threatening calls for help on the Fraser Coast.

"We've had seven rescues from vehicles and we've had nine dwellings that have had to be evacuated," he said.

Five people were also evacuated from the Hervey Bay watch house and transferred to Maryborough.

The State Emergency Service has received about 1,000 calls across the state today, with 155 calls in Hervey Bay leading to extra crews being sent to the region.

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."

The Fraser Coast Regional Council downgraded its emergency warning to a Watch and Act alert about 1pm, but the police declaration remains current.

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."

Inspirations Paint manager Tom O'Neill said he checked his store's cameras earlier this morning to discover water through his shop.

"I saw everything floating inside and thought 'this isn't good'," he said.

"It will be very expensive — a lot of our stock and our mixing machines got pretty wet."

Kyall Kagerer owns several storefronts in Hervey Bay's CBD and estimated there would be hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage to his properties.

"It was about knee-deep out the back … there's about 20-25 centimetres through all the shops," he said.

Hervey Bay resident Jason Staggard said the deluge came without warning.

"It was all pretty calm, we were just watching out for the news reports — then bang, it came out of nowhere," he said.

"The rain was coming off the ocean smashing into the side of the house … I'm surprised the windows didn't break!"

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."

Brisbane cops flooding

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.

In Brisbane's north, a couple in Clontarf had a close call after a tree landed on their roof during last night's wild weather conditions.

Deb Williames was camped in the hallway of the home with her partner Brett Whitmore and their dog Dawny when she heard a "dense, loud thud".

"I heard a loud thud and creaking and groaning noises," she said.

"We're just so lucky that the tree didn't go through the roof or the window … there are a lot of people worse off."

The couple said they had spent the previous night in a shed on their property, but moved back into the house after Tropical Cyclone Alfred was downgraded to a low on Saturday, believing the "worst had passed".

"We thought it would be fine and moved back in … and ending up getting caught out," Mr Whitmore said.

Premier David Crisafulli said about 2,000 staff from Energex and Ergon were working to reconnect power across south-east Queensland, with more than 350,000 properties still in the dark.

The premier said the government would publish a list later this afternoon detailing which schools would reopen on Monday.

Grocery stores are reopening either today or tomorrow, with queues out the door at some locations.