Intense rain from a damaging low-pressure trough drenched the southeast on Friday with some falls of 160mm in six hours,
Residents were forced to evacuate as flooding hit areas around Laidley, Gatton and Grantham in the Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane, to the south around Beaudesert and in Warwick, Cecil Plains, Millerman and Killarney on the Southern Downs.
About 300 homes were impacted in Laidley where the Lockyer River surged through the town's main street.
Major flood warnings are in place or the Condamine, Logan and Bremer rivers and Warrill, Laidley and Lockyer creeks.
The border town of Goondiwindi is also bracing for potential flooding after heavy rainfall across the Border rivers catchment.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Laura Boekel warned the intense rain was expected to continue on Saturday.
More than 700 roads were cut or affected by floodwaters on Friday including the Bruce Highway near Gin Gin, with Queensland Fire and Emergency Services conducting 20 flood rescues in 24 hours.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that while the rain is not as intense as downpours that caused catastrophic floods in February, the system was expected to linger into Saturday.
"Please don't be anxious," she told reporters.
"The key thing is to be listening to the alerts and we'll be keeping everybody updated as much as possible."
Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski urged people to stay connected and listen to warnings and avoid driving into floodwater.
"We have lost far too many lives on our roads this year and in previous events," Mr Gollschewski said.
A powerful easterly swell and strong onshore winds have whipped up four-metre waves with the BOM warning of dangerous surf conditions and possible coastal erosion between Fraser Island and the NSW border.
The unseasonal deluge is Queensland's sixth deadly flood since December, which scientists have put down to a second La Nina weather pattern in two years.
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