Qld towns flooded and expecting more rain

Residents in Jandowae on the Darling Downs watched the water rise quickly after storms dumped 100mm of rain on Tuesday night onto an already-soaked catchment.

"We are on the creek and can report biggest flooding I can remember," Lee Labrie posted on social media.

"Had to move our horses as paddocks totally flooded. We had good steady rain all night but obviously much more in the headwaters of Jandowae Creek."

"Probably the worst flooding in a long time," Rob Norman wrote.

Parks and streets were inundated, several properties have reported minor damage and roads to the nearby centres of Dalby and Chinchilla remain cut.

Rising waters in the Jandowae Creek and across the Jimbour Plain are expected to cause further flooding in the region on Wednesday night.

An emergency flood alert has been issued for Warra, 25 minutes from Jandowae.

Residents have been advised to secure their belongings, prepare to leave and warn neighbours as the weather bureau warns that storm activity is set to continue into early Thursday morning.

Other parts of Queensland remain on flood watch, with warnings for coastal catchments between Bundaberg and the NSW border.

"We are expecting at least one more day of that heavy rainfall to continue across the southeast, particularly for the Gold Coast," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Kimba Wong says.

However, it is a very different story in the state's far north where residents are bracing for heatwave conditions with February temperature records expected to tumble.

"What we have is extreme to severe heatwave conditions building across the tropical north, particularly in areas around Ingham, the Tablelands and across to Gulf country," Ms Wong says.

"A number of locations will have temperatures in the mid-40s with warm overnight lows only just below 30 degrees."

Meanwhile, Cyclone Uesi is creating large swells along Australia's east coast and is expected to pummel beaches south of Fraser Island, with the Gold Coast expecting the heaviest surf.

The category two cyclone was west of Noumea early Wednesday afternoon.

It is forecast to weaken as it moves southwest towards Lord Howe Island, which is expecting gales with wind gusts up to 140 km/h on Thursday.

The rain is not enough to break the drought with 67.1 per cent of Queensland remaining drought-declared.

Australian Associated Press