A man's body has been recovered after he was swept away in floodwaters at Nanango this morning following overnight downpours that caused flash flooding in Queensland's South Burnett region.
Police confirmed the 47-year-old man's body was discovered near Sandy Creek bridge after a vehicle was swept into floodwaters along Brown Street about 5:30am.
Police are still searching for the vehicle in the flooded creek after more than 100 millimetres of rain fell in the area.
"We are working to formally identify this person,” Inspector Scott Stahlhut said.
"We have a number of officers on scene, our forensics and dive people are here.
"Closer to Kingaroy, there was a rescue this morning … police retrieved a number of persons from a roof of the car, they were in quite a dangerous situation.
"We have stood up an evacuation centre at the Cultural Centre in Nanango. A number of people are still at that evacuation centre and those persons were evacuated from Nanango caravan park which is a low-lying area."
An emergency alert was issued at 7:10am by the South Burnett Regional Council for flash flooding in the area, with residents warned roads and bridges may be closed.
Another man was rescued by quick-thinking onlookers after he drove his car into floodwaters near Gympie.
Police said witnesses were able to get a rope to the man and pull him to safety on Glastonbury Creek Road around midday after his vehicle became submerged.
Wide Bay Police Superintendent Michael Sawrey said it could have been a very different outcome, with swiftwater rescue crews struggling to access the scene.
"It was fortunate that some of the local residents were able to rescue him before other emergency services got there," he said.
"Time goes very, very quickly when you're doing this dangerous activity of entering floodwaters."
Multiple crews and a swiftwater rescue team have also attended Twin Gums Caravan Park in Nanango where more than a dozen caravans were impacted by floodwaters.
Nanango local Peter Dalrymple was at the caravan park and said the water was fast flowing.
"Some caravans down the back that you can't reach because it's flowing too fast and too deep.
"The SES got those people out and took them over to the service station … probably 15 or 16 caravans have been impacted."
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the man's death was "tragic" and urged Queenslanders to stay away from the water this weekend due to the hazardous weather.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Minister Mark Ryan said swiftwater rescue crews were also sent to Maryborough to be on standby.
The east coast low has caused 6 metre waves and dangerous conditions across parts of the state.
On Thursday, a wave-monitoring buoy off Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island off Brisbane recorded maximum wave heights of more than 6m.
Cruise ship could not dock in Brisbane
Cruise ship the Coral Princess was supposed to dock in Brisbane at 6am today, but due to bad weather the port was closed so the ship had to head out to sea.
Maritime Safety Queensland (MSG) general manager Kell Dillon said pilotage was currently suspended due to wave and wind conditions.
Upper Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland recorded 112mm of rain in 24 hours.
Local Disaster Coordinator Alton Twine said Gold Coast residents should consider delaying travel in heavy rain.
"There is always the possibility for flash flooding, " Mr Twine said.
"Mudgeeraba had about 50mm overnight – we can expect the same sort of intensity over the next 24 hours.
"We're on absolute alert for conditions for the next couple of days."
Parts of the Sunshine Coast are also dealing with flash flooding with more than 50mm falling in one hour at some places.
Hinterland towns including Maleny, Nambour and Yandina have all recorded more than 100mm in the past 24 hours, leading to surging waterways and minor flooding in some places.
The northern parts of the Maroochy River at Yandina has expanded past the riverbank, forcing at least six campers to evacuate the area and leaving one van inundated by the river.
Four hours north of the Sunshine Coast, Baffle Creek resident Judy Ferrari said she recorded more than 120mm at her property in the past 24 hours.
Controlled releases from Wivenhoe Dam
South-east Queensland dam operator Seqwater has mobilised its flood operations centre.
Controlled releases from Wivenhoe Dam, north of Brisbane, started at midday because of continuing rainfall in the catchment area.
Seqwater said the releases, combined with river and creek flows, are likely to flood Twin Bridges, Savages Crossing and Colleges Crossing.
It urged those downstream of the dam to stay away from fast flowing or deep water.
Releases from North Pine Dam are possible in the coming day and 18 ungated dams across the region are spilling.
Wivenhoe Dam's drinking water storage is sitting at 90 per cent capacity – but the flood storage area is empty.
Fierce winds batter coast
A gale warning stretches from Rockhampton to the Gold Coast, with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecasting gusts of more than 90 kilometres per hour.
BOM meteorologist Shane Kennedy said that was equivalent to a wind speed that occurs during cyclones.
Mr Kennedy said a 130kph gust was recorded on an off-shore reef and warned that "pretty fierce winds" could blow onshore throughout Friday.
Gold Coast beaches are closed today, but surfers were spotted at Snapper Rocks this morning, trying to catch a wave despite the dangerous conditions.
One surfer told ABC News he had called in late to work so he could get out in the 1.8-metre surf on the southern Gold Coast.
Another surfer said he was entering the ocean despite the hazardous conditions for the "adrenaline" rush.
Experienced Gold Coast surfer Quin Bers rescued a mate's board that broke in half from the wild surf.
He said the sweep of the ocean is so strong that he entered at Snapper and got out at Kirra.
"I just saw my mate with half his board swimming in, saw it floating out to sea so thought I would grab it and bring it in," he said.
Rain to clear on Saturday
The BOM has forecast the rain to break up and become isolated showers by late Friday afternoon.
"And, then, really contracting right to the coast late Saturday morning and clearing off by late Saturday afternoon," Mr Kennedy said.
"It will depend a bit on how close to the coast this east coast low gets.
"It is forecast to drift a little bit closer during Friday and then move fairly quickly away during Saturday."
