SOUTHERN Queensland is again under water with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a severe weather warning including possible flash flooding and damaging winds across the region.
Emergency services are also reportedly considering evacuating the outback town of Charleville, which has experienced its heaviest rainfall in years.
Meanwhile, schools are considering closing their doors on the Sunshine Coast as the region braces for falls as big as 200 millimetres today.
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Swift water rescue officers have already conducted two rescues this morning after vehicles driven into flooded waterways were swept into fast flowing water.
A man was found clinging to a tree 20m downstream from where his car had been washed off Dalrymple Road Crossing at the Bohle River, near Townsville, about 5am.
Emergency services rescued the man, who was uninjured.
About 6.30am a vehicle was washed from a causeway near Roma. A female driver was rescued and taken to Roma Hospital as a precaution.
The overnight drenching caused havoc for South East Queensland residents. The SES has responded to more than 30 calls for help in Brisbane, most of which were in Deception Bay, 10 between the Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg and 15 in the rest of the South East region, the Department of Community Safety said.
Most calls were for leaking roofs but volunteers are assisting Noosa residents with sandbagging.
Meanwhile, Energex has restored power to 4500 homes in the Lockyer Valley and southside of Brisbane that were hit by weather-related power outages early this morning.
Rain has caused equipment to fail and split timber cross arms on power poles, causing one to fall near Regency Downs about 5am.
Power supplies had been restored to about 85 per cent of affected customers, Energex spokesman Shaun Rushby said.
Heavy rain to ease
While rain continues to fall across Brisbane, areas like the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast have copped the brunt of a large monsoonal trough that is pushing north.
The Gold Coast has recorded 106 millimetres in 24 hours, while Nambour and Maroochydoore have received 150 millimetres and 143 millimetres resepecitvely - the heaviest falls in nearly two years.
"It hasn't been particularly heavy about the Brisbane area; it's been a consistent rain throughout the night,'' Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Ben Annells said.
The Gold Coast recorded varying rainfalls, with 34 millimetres in Coolangatta in the south and 93 millimetres in Carrara in the north.
The heaviest falls have been on the Sunshine Coast and southern interior. Noosa has recorded 162 millimetres since 9am yesterday, while 141 millimetres has fallen in both Charleville and Quilpie.
''They've been the heaviest areas. Then we've seen basically a scattering of light to moderate falls elsewhere over southern Queensland,'' Mr Annells said.
''We're still going to have rain about today. There is potential for it to be heavy at times around the Brisbane area but probably again the focus will be about the Sunshine Coast.
''Potentially we could see another 50 to 100 millimetres. One hundred millimetres [would be] more localised. At the Sunshine Coast [there could be] falls up to 200 millimetres.
"The rain will ease as the afternoon and evening approaches.''
Mr Annells said the bureau's flash flood warning was even more applicable because the ground was already ''fairly saturated'' from recent rains.
''It doesn't take much to see even some moderate rain [put] a bit of water on the road in a lot of places,'' he said.
The bureau is also warning of damaging wind gusts around the Sunshine Coast as a low forms over Fraser Island.
Mr Annells said the monsoonal trough that has caused much of the deluge in the past few days is decreasing and moving towards South Australia.
However, showers are still forecast for the rest of the west due to an on-shore air stream that could also produce thunderstorms on Friday.
Dams runneth over as catchment cops it
South-East Queensland's water catchments have fared well from the two-day deluge, with as much as 100 millimetres falling directly over the dams in the last 24 hours alone.
Yesterday, SEQWater reported North Pine Dam was at 100 per cent capacity, while Hinze Dam on the Gold Coast has been overflowing for weeks.
Somerset Dam has dropped to 95 per cent capacity following the release of excess water, while Lake Baroon pocket, on the Sunshine Coast, is also overflowing.
Combined dam capacity of greater Brisbane's three biggest dams - Somerset, Wivenhoe and North Pine - reached 74 per cent yesterday, with an increase expected this morning.
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