Australia Weather News

The massive downpour across southern Queensland is at levels not seen since Cyclone Debbie hammered the coastline last March, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says.

A coastal trough has driven torrential rainfall again over coastal regions from Bundaberg as far north as Proserpine, including Gladstone, Rockhampton and Mackay.

The areas inland from Agnes Waters near the Town of 1770 have been the hardest-hit with Westwood Range receiving 373mm in the 24 hours to 9:00am on Tuesday.

Damaging winds and flash-flooding has caused chaos for coastal towns north of the Sunshine Coast, with Eumundi receiving 206mm.

Bundaberg has already shattered its previous October rainfall record of 281mm, with 445mm recorded for the month by Tuesday afternoon.

Late on Tuesday, the BOM reissued a severe weather warning for heavy rainfall across the Central Coast and Whitsundays, Capricornia and parts of Wide Bay and Burnett forecast districts.

The BOM said further localised areas of heavy rain were expected to develop over remaining coastal areas between Bowen and Hervey Bay over the next 24 hours.

A flood watch is current for coastal catchments for Capricornia and Central Coast districts.

A major flood warning has been issued for the Kolan River and a moderate flood warning for Baffle Creek.

There are minor flood warnings for the Mary and Burrum rivers.

Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecaster Sam Campbell said the surface trough was moving north-west from the Town of 1770.

"Hopefully the worst of the heavy rain has eased around the Wide Bay now," he said.

"Wind gusts up to 90 kilometres per hour have also prompted a marine wind warning for the coast and Fraser Island."

"As we go further into the afternoon that's when we could start to see activity increasing further and the heaviest falls around the Rockhampton area aren't expected until later on tonight into Wednesday morning," Mr Campbell said.

"Keep tracking to the northwest so from St Laurence down through Rockhampton Gladstone as far inland as Biloela we could see some heavy falls into Wednesday with that trough."

Brisbane, however, has seen the back of the heavy rain falls as that coastal trough continues to track north.

The region received up to 10 millimetres overnight.

Schools closed as emergency measure

A number of schools were closed as an emergency measure on Tuesday, including Noosa District State High School's two campuses at Cooroy and Pomona.

A school spokesman said it was precaution as the catchment area was so large and many families would be affected by flooded roads.

Other affected schools included: Alloway State School, Avondale State School, Elliott Heads State School, Lowmead State School, Pomona State School, Yandaran State School.

Weather to impact Gold coast super cars race

Upper Springbrook on the Gold Coast reported 47 millimetres of rain in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning after being lashed by 200 mm over the weekend.

With more rain on its way, BOM said supercars could be racing on a wet track on the Gold Coast this weekend.

The rain that has left much of the region soaked is expected to ease on Friday but Mr Campbell said there was more on the way.

He said an upper level system like the one that has brought heavy rain to much of south-east Queensland is expected to move into the area.

"Another major one comes in from the west to the south-east by Sunday," he said.

"So looking at a high chance of showers again on Saturday and Sunday and rainfall around 5mm or so potentially there.

"But it is going to be cloudy conditions for the weekend and cool as well, only getting up to around 23 degrees[Celsius]."