Parts of Queensland are facing another severe weather event, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urging residents to prepare for "incredibly heavy rainfalls" over the coming days.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said over the coming week, western and northern parts of Queensland could see up to 10 times their average falls for May, with totals of up to 200 millimetres expected.
Central Queensland's coastal areas and adjacent ranges could see even higher totals, the BOM said.
Ms Palaszczuk said most of the rain would come early next week, with the developing weather event to hit parts of western, Far North and Central Queensland, which had already saturated areas from heavy falls over the Anzac Day weekend.
"I've asked the Deputy Premier to contact the relevant mayors today to make sure that they have their planning processes in place.
"We do not expect the severe weather to be as intense in south-east Queensland, so that is a relief. However, we will be monitoring it very carefully."
She said some of Queensland's streams and rivers were still affected by the last weather event.
"It's very unusual to see this type of situation occurring in Far North Queensland, especially this time of year, which is usually near the end of the season,'' she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said emergency services, police and local authorities were monitoring the developing weather event, which is expected to bring storms, wind gusts and the risk of flash flooding to parts of western, Central and north Queensland.
"We are expecting higher rainfall totals than we've seen before in May," she said.
"So please … to people in Far North Queensland and out west — we are looking at areas around Townsville, Ingham all the way up to Longreach, Windorah, Winton and Barcaldine — I know they have seen some rain recently, so they're going to be expecting a lot more.
"And of course, this rain event will also have some impacts further down to Rocky, Yeppoon and even maybe to Gladstone."
'Not out of the woods'
BOM forecaster David Grant said increasing showers and thunderstorms would develop across Queensland over the coming days, saying there would be widespread areas of rain that might become heavier over the next week — most likely starting on Tuesday.
He said the weather event could bring 100mm to 200mm totals, which was not unheard of in May, but very rare for a lot of the inland locations such as northern and western Queensland, which normally received an average of 20mm for the month.
"I guess the most significant thing about this event for … [the] northern [part] and western part of Queensland is it's going to be coming on the back of a fortnight of a recent heavy rainfall event over such a widespread area," Mr Grant said.
"[This] means that any small catchment will be very responsive with a heightened flash flood risk.
"But also, we've got current or recent flooding [so] they will be more prone to new rises with much less rainfall than previously expected."
Risk of flash flooding
Mr Grant said localised flash flooding would become a risk over the next week, particularly around creeks, falls and streams affected by recent weather and the wet season.
The BOM said it expected to issue a flood watch for some catchment areas over the weekend on Sunday or Monday, and there were already many flood warnings for western Queensland catchments.
Mr Grant said south-east Queenslanders were "not out of the woods" when it came to flash flooding and above average rain.
He said Queensland could expect to see a wetter winter this year, where weather patterns would drive above average rainfall.
Dam releases ahead
Seqwater said it was planning low flow releases from Somerset Dam into Wivenhoe Dam, north-west of Brisbane, for the next three days.
The releases are not expected to cause the lake level in Wivenhoe Dam to rise more than 50cm over the next 72 hours, according to Seqwater updates on its website.
Seqwater said heavy rainfall also caused 14 ungated dams to spill excess water. These included Atkinson Dam, Baroon Pocket Dam, Enoggera Dam and the Leslie Harrison Dam.
It also said due to continuing rain in the catchment area, outflows had increased for the Gold Creek Dam, Hinze Dam, Maroon Dam and Moogerah Dam.
Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll warned people not to drive through or enter floodwaters, saying 14 people lost their lives during the severe weather event in February.
"I ask that you prepare now, that you plan your trip,'' she said.
"And as you've already heard, and I'll reiterate that message: Please do not drive through those flooded waters."
She said police and emergency services were working with local disaster management services as they monitored the weather.
