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Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the southern Queensland towns of Charleville and Roma as flood waters surge.
The area has been declared a disaster zone and more than 300 people have been moved from their homes.
Extra State Emergency Service (SES) and fire crews, Red Cross volunteers, pumps and flood boats are on their way to the towns, while evacuation centres have been set up at the Charleville showgrounds and Roma RSL hall.
Heavy falls have also isolated the towns of Quilpie, Bedourie and Birdsville - which received close to their yearly average rainfall in three days - but their food and medical needs were still being assessed on Tuesday evening. More than 100 millimetres has fallen on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, flooding roads and swelling rivers.
The monsoonal system that brought falls of up to 260mm over the past three days in southwest Queensland, and drenched other parts of the state, now moving south-southwest through northern NSW and into South Australia.
"We expect the worst is past," Emergency Management Queensland acting chief officer Bruce Grady told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon.
Flooding peaked in Bradley's Gully in Charleville on Tuesday afternoon.
Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts, who grew up in Charleville, said flooding was part of life in the southwest.
"It's really practically not possible to actually build levees on either side of the gully," he said, declaring Roma and Charleville disaster zones and providing flood relief payments to locals.
Charleville's nursing home was evacuated, but the hospital was expected to be unaffected.
Mark O'Brien, mayor of Murweh Shire which takes in Charleville, said the flood was the worst he'd seen.
"We were hoping that it wasn't going to be this high, but there's nothing you can do about the man that sends the rain," he said.
"We're weary. We hate it."
A woman and her son were plucked to safety after their car flipped on its side in fast-flowing waters near the Warrego Highway near Charleville.
A woman was rescued from floodwaters in Roma.
Quilpie mayor David Edwards said the town had received almost its average yearly rainfall of 300mm in the past three days.
"I was born here and have been here all my life, and this has been the best summer (for rain) since 1976," he said.
Parts of the southwest have been drought-declared since 2002 and have been on severe water restrictions.
Federal MP Bruce Scott estimated the flooding could cost millions of dollars.
"There will be millions of dollars in personal loss such as damage to property, destroyed fences, damaged homes and possible loss of livestock," Scott said.
"The road damage is also enormous. These shires from Merwah through to Maranoa regional council are disaster zones."
There's also been heavy rain across Queensland's southeast corner, causing localised flooding and traffic problems in Brisbane and on the Gold and Sunshine coasts.
In north Queensland, emergency crews saved a 54-year-old man found clinging to a tree near Townsville after his car was inundated.
Parts of north Queensland have received more than 300mm over the
past week.
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