SES volunteer killed in Queensland floods: 'Rain has not stopped'
An SES volunteer is among four Queenslanders killed by flooding in the past week as hundreds of millimetres of rain fell in the south east corner of the state.
The volunteer died when a car carrying three other SES crew was swept off the road on Friday night.
More than 300mm of rain fell in multiple areas around Brisbane, the Lockyer Valley and Sunshine Coast.
At Mt Glorious, north west of Brisbane, 690mm of rain fell between 9am Friday and 7am Saturday.
At Pomona on the Sunshine Coast, 535mm of rain fell up to 6am this morning.
"In some parts of south east Queensland, this is the biggest event that they will see in a number of decades and the rain has not stopped. In fact, there are some parts where it is intensifying," Police Minister Mark Ryan said on Saturday morning.
Already saturated catchments are increasing the flood risk and Mr Ryan advised people to take extra caution in the coming days.
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"I need everyone out there to be making sensible decisions," he says.
Queensland is being pummelled by rain as a surface trough hovers over the south east of the state.
The intense weather is continuing on Saturday, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning that surface trough is likely to deepen further into a low pressure system.
"The evolution of this system and its relatively slow movement will continue to cause significant and prolonged impacts across south east Queensland over the weekend," the bureau warns.
Locally intense rainfall that could lead to dangerous flash flooding is possible, and could heighten the risk of landslides.
Motorists are warned to take care on the roads with debris likely.
Wind gusts over 90km/h are possible on the Sunshine Coast north of Maroochydore and those intense winds could spread to more parts of the state as the low develops.
"It's extremely dangerous out there in south east Queensland at the moment," Qld Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Greg Leach says.
"Catchments are completely saturated, our rivers are rising, we have flash flooding, now is not the time to be out and about," Mr Leach says.
Four dead as people flee to rooftops
Four Queenslanders have died in floods triggered by the trough over recent days, with the SES volunteer the latest.
A man also lost his life at Stones Corner in Brisbane's east.
A 54-year-old man was killed when trying to ride a motorbike through rising water at Gympie and a 63-year-old woman's body was found in a submerged car on the Sunshine Coast during the week.
The SES has received more than 1800 calls for assistance and responded to 132 flood rescues in the past 24 hours.
Residents in the Lockyer Valley town of Grantham, where a three-metre wall of water swept through and devastated the community in 2011, heard flood sirens on Friday as residents of low-lying areas were told to move to higher ground.
Six people took refuge on the roofs of homes as emergency services made plans to rescue them, with the weather so severe aircraft was unable to assist.
The RACQ LifeFlight helicopter rescued five people and a dog from a Gympie property surrounded by floodwaters on Friday.
Flood warnings are in place around the state, including at Gympie, where the Mary River is threatening to reach heights not seen since major flooding in 1999.
It has already exceeded its 2011 and 2013 flood peaks.
In addition to the Mary River, major flood warnings are in place on the Mooloolah, Noosa and Maroochy Rivers on the Sunshine Coast, Upper Brisbane and Stanley Rivers, Laidley, Lockyer, Logan, Georgina and Bremer Rivers.
Some 243 people were in evacuation centres on Saturday morning.
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